It was heartening to note that over 400 delegates participated from all over India consisting of Government officials (Central & States), Executives of both Public and Private sectors, Professors from Universities and senior MBA students participated in the 2-day historic event of 36th World Marketing Congress on “India & Central Asia : ColLabouration & Cooperation” held on February 12-13, 2009 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Delegates from five Central Asian countries as well as Ambassadors and staff of these countries located at New Delhi participated actively in the Congress. Delegates from within India came from States such as Delhi, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Haryana.
Other Embassies such as Russia, Yemen, Kenya, Georgia, Cuba, Pakistan, Laos, Israel, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Poland, Namibia, Ghana, located at New Delhi, also had their representatives attend the Congress. It was endorsed by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India; Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India; Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India ; Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Deptt.of Industry Policy & Promotion , Government of India.
Embassies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan ; Federation of Indian Export Organisations ;Indian Merchants’ Chamber; All India Association of Industries (AIAI); PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Western U.P. Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Standing Conference of Public Enterprises; Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Indira Gandhi National Open University; Indian Association of Tour Operators; Indian Council of World Affairs; India-Central Asia Foundation; Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI); Directorate of Industries-Maharashtra; G.B.Pant University of Agriculture & Technology; Rubber Board (Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India); Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Delhi Chamber of Commerce; Anand Agricultural University; University of Pune; Madhya Pradesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Kashmir University; HNB Garhwal University; Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture; Japan Marketing Association ; CAPEXIL ; Saurashtra University; Assam University
The Congress was presided over by the National President of IMM, Hon’ble Dr. A.R.Kidwai, Governor of Haryana, Hon’ble Shri Sri Prakash Jaiswal ,Union Minister of State for Home Affairs was the Guest of Honour at the Inaugural Session. The Inaugural Speech of Hon’ble Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister of External Affairs (who was also handling duties of Finance Minister and Prime Minister), in his absence, was read out by Mr. N.Ravi, Secretary-East, Ministry of External Affairs, highlighting the importance of Central Asia vis-à-vis India.
It was creditable that such luminaries, as follows, chaired sessions and giving keynote addresses at the Congress such as:
Chairmen of various technical sessions were:
- Ambassador Lalit Mansingh, Former Foreign Secretary, MEA
- Mr. J.C. Sharma, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
- Mr. Mukund Choudhary, Managing Director, Spentex Industries Ltd.
- Dr. L.K. Malhotra, Chairman & Mg. Director , CHL Ltd. & Past President, PHDCCI
- Mr. S.S. Kohli, CMD, India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd.
- Mr. V.C. Jain Bhabhu, Chairman,Seer India
- Mr. O.P. Pradhan, Executive Director, Corporate Planning & Strategy, Hindustan Petroleum Corpn. Ltd.
- Mr. N.D. Rajpal, Resident Director, Alembic Ltd.
- Dr. Furqan Qamar, Adviser (HE & Culture), Planning Commission
- Mr. S.V. Bhave, IAS (Retd.)
The Keynote speeches were delivered by :
- Mr. N. Ravi –Secretary- East, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
- Mr. Abdysamat Baiyalinov-Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Head of Delegation
- Ms. S. Ataeva, Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for foreign relation, head of delegation, Republic of Uzbekistan
- Ms. Reyimova Halbagt, Head of Deptt. of Investment & foreign relations of the Association of Industry and Commerce under the Cabinet Ministry of Turkmenistan
- Mr. Timur Nurashev, Chairman of Committee for Investment, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan
- Mr. Saktanbek Kadyraliev, Co-Chairman of the Kyrgyz-Indian Joint Business Council- Chamber of Industry and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic
- Mr. H. Hasanov, Head of group of Agency “Uzinfoinvest” the Republic Uzbekistan
- Prof. M.A.Kaw, Co-ordinator Conferences, Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir
- Mr. Arjun Amla, Representative NC “Uzbekturizm” the Republic of Uzbekistan in India
- Mr. Homid Saidov, Representative of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of the Republic of Tajikistan in India
- Mr. R. Zokirov, Chief of Department of National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan
- Mr. Naren Joshi, Chief Representative, ING Insurance Intl. B.V.
- Mr. Kairat Torebayev, Second Secretary-(Econ & Commerce), Embassy of Kazakhstan
- Mr. Satvinder Singh, DGM, NSIC
- Mr. Hydyrgulyyev Arslan, Head of Deptt. of Energy and Chemical Industry of Ministry of Economic Development of Turkmenistan;
- Dr. G. Wakankar, IFS (Retd.), Executive Director, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association
- Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Director (Education Initiative), NASSCOM
- Dr. Ramgopal Agarwala, Senior Adviser, RIS
The 2-day deliberations proved extremely beneficial to both the regions of Central Asia and India. It was a fairly effective marketing job done on linking Central Asia to India and India to the five Central Asian countries. Opportunities for trade promotion and Joint Ventures in Power, Oil, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Food Processing, Fertilizer, Agriculture, Education, Cycles, Toys, Computer components, Infotech, Tourism Promotion, Biotech, SMEs etc were highlighted.
One of the major recommendations was setting up a Joint Fund for investment and Trade promotion between India and Central Asia accelerating the process of mutual advantage of colLabouration and cooperation. The proposed Joint Fund would certainly help more Indian companies and companies from Central Asian countries to have regular people to people contacts or business-to-business contacts for exploring the potential for joint ventures and colLabourations. Another area highlighted at the Congress was easing the problem of processing of visas for Indian businessmen and executives to visit Central Asian countries for on the spot check up of potential for colLabouration and cooperation. It was also proposed that the Institute of Marketing & Management may set up a Division in its secretariat to act as a nodal agency for helping promote trade and joint ventures and colLabourations through its members across the country.
The Congress concluded with a hearty vote of thanks to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India; ING Life Insurance; Indian Bank; SAIL; Indian Council of Cultural Relations; India Habitat Centre and others who had extended support for making the Congress a great success for the benefit of everyone concerned.
February 13, 2009
Dr. Jagjit Singh
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