Session on A treasure trove of global business opportunities & Launch of Business and Trade Association 

New Delhi: The Session on Global Business Opportunities was organised by Business and Trade Association (BTA) today at India Habitat Centre. Chief Guest of the session Mr. Puneet Kundal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Mr. Ravi Saxena, Former Additional Secretary to Govt of Gujarat and mentor Business and Trade Association and Ambassadors and country representatives from various countries gave a brief presentation on the bilateral trade opportunities for Indian companies in their respective countries. The Session was supported by Gujarat Tourism, Government  of Gujarat, Associate Partner Indian Industries Association(IIA) and Partner Associations like Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce Industry & Agriculture (MIICCIA) and International Chamber of Indian Business (ICIB) and networking partner Golden Signatures.

 
Mr. D J Yadav, President BTA: The President congratulated BTA for selecting such an important theme on global business opportunities. The name treasure trove truly reflects the golden opportunities of bilateral trade with other countries. He highlighted the brief of the program that how it’s going to be very fruitful for the MSMEs and industries as during the course of the event, B2B meetings have also been arranged for the companies and how the companies can collaborate for bilateral trade and global expansion. The launch of BTA by way of corporate video about its objective and vision was shown to the delegates presence.

 
Mr. Amlan Bora, Chief Representative cum Trade & Investment Commissioner, Dutch Government Trade Offices (NBSO) in India spoke about various collaborative options for businesses with Indian companies and how they are acting as a facilitator in bilateral trade.  He said that Netherlands is India's 4th largest trading partner in Europe (2021-22) and the 4th largest investor in India. Bilateral trade touched an all-time high of USD 17 billion in 2021-22. This includes exports worth USD 12 billion and imports worth approx. The figures itself are very encouraging and reflects the overall business opportunities between these two countries. He also said that he has been attending lots of investment summit and roadshows all over India promoting bilateral trade.

 
Mr. Ravi Saxena, Former Additional Secretary to Govt of Gujarat and mentor Business and Trade Association, spoke about the role of technology in promoting bilateral trade. He spoke about his experience and potential of trade opportunities when he was representing Gujarat in various countries of Europe, USA, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan. He was also instrumental in representing State Government in various Trade Associations.
 
Mrs. Rekha Sharma from Indian Industries Association spoke about the role of IIA in promoting bilateral trade between African countries and invited the delegates to grab the opportunity for expansion of their trade and businesses. 
 
Mrs. Donata Chitsonga, First Secretary of Trade, High Commission of Malawi in India expressed her sincere gratitude to India and informed about the strong bond that makes them feel like home if they are in Africa or India. She spoke about the medical and pharma exports from India. She said that around 20% of Indian companies are registered in Malawi and there are lots of scope in bilateral trade. The policy reforms and ease of doing business attracts lots of Indian companies to expand their business in Malawi. She said that Malawi exports lots of pulses like pigeon peas, soya, groundnut and coffee apart from other sectors like mining, agriculture and tourism. She warmly welcomed all the delegates for trade expansion in Malawi. 
 
Mr. Cedrick Crowley, Minister Plenipotentiary, South African High Commission in India spoke about the ancient friendly relationship with India since Independence and how these two countries have friendly relations since ages. He said since hundreds of years lot of Indian population has been residing in India and having trade with the country. He said that the main areas of our engagement are pharmaceutical; IT, automobile, banking, defense and mining, but there are still other sectors where our companies are doing brisk business. He informed the audience that Several South African companies have invested in India. Leading among them are SANLAM [insurance], Life Healthcare [healthcare], Momentum [insurance], Airport Company of South Africa [Mumbai airport], First Rand bank, Old Mutual, SAB Miller [ brewery], NASPERS [ e-commerce], Smollan [retail ] among others.
 
H.E. Prof Joyce Kakuramatsi, High Commissioner, High Commission of Uganda in India said that India and Uganda established diplomatic relations in 1965 and each maintain a High Commission in the other's capital. The Indian High Commission in Kampala has concurrent accreditation to Burundi. During the last 25 years the exports of India to Uganda have increased at an annualized rate of 11.1%, from $58M in 1995 to $797M in 2020. During the last 25 years the exports of India to Uganda have increased at an annualized rate of 11.1%, from $58M in 1995 to $797M in 2020.
 
H.E. Ms. Jaqueline Mukangira, High Commissioner, High Commission of Rwanda in India spoke about the equitable and balanced India -Rwanda trade relations between the two countries. She educated the audience that how her country is having gender parity with representation of more than 55% women representing the country in parliament and other important offices of the government. She spoke about how safe it is for women in Rwanda and how women entrepreneurs can also explore business opportunities. She spoke about the friendly policies, approval within few hours of application, less paperwork and single window clearance. By playing the video of her country’s immense potential and Indians presence she also emphasized on expansion of Tourism sector in their country and welcomed the delegates to their country.
 
During the session there was a Launch of Business and Trade Association followed by Audio Visual Film. BTA is one of the exclusive business-oriented chamber with focus on upscaling of business and building collaborative network by joining dots, making them unique and special. The launch was followed by signing & exchange of MoU between Business and Trade Association (BTA) & Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce Industry & Agriculture (MIICCIA) 
 
Mr. Puneet Kundal, IFS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External affairs, Government of India congratulated BTA on its launch and spoke about the global bilateral trade opportunities between Indian and African countries and how since ages the bilateral trade is gaining momentum. He said that India is the highest and fastest growing economy in the world and the growth opportunities are tremendous. He said that due to various circumstances like war, economic crisis in the west and European countries, India is steady and growing at a fast pace. If we look at the India African country relationship, there are around 12 million Indian people living in Africa and there is about 12% of total expatriate Indian diaspora living in Africa. He said that service industry in Africa is dominated by Indians. He said that the infrastructure in construction is in high demand in African countries and Indian companies and Indian government is helping African countries in setting up of infrastructure in their countries. He also said that India is ready to help African countries by importing pigeon pulses whatever they produce to help the African countries bridge the gap in recovering their economy He said India is looking for collaborative trade opportunities in defense, food and agriculture. 
 
Dr. G R Raghavender, Former Joint Secretary to Government of India and Mentor Business And Trade Association spoke abut the TRIPS and legal outlook on Global trade and shared his experience when he had been representing India under various forums. He also spoke about reivision of the copyright legislations and suggested certain reforms in legislations for global and bilateral trade to ease the process. He in his concluding remarks also thanked BTA and team for giving him the opportunity in addressing the vast audience.
 
The entire session was moderated by Mr. Onkareshwar Pandey Chairman- Observer Global Media Group & Founder – Commonwealth Though Leaders Forum.