Venkat Raman –
venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz
While the New Zealand government is currently assessing the outcome of the visit of Prime Minister John Key to India and will announce in due course the next steps to solidify Indo-Kiwi relations further, one organisation has already announced at least three initiatives with a calendar to implement them.
Indian New Zealand Business Council (INZBC), which has Chapters in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch with the fourth scheduled to be established shortly in Hamilton to serve the Waikato region, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to organise a conference on Education and Technology in Auckland next year.
INZBC Head of Government Relations Wenceslaus Anthony signed the MoU with FICCI Secretary General Alwyn Didar Singh in New Delhi on October 26, 2016, while Prime Minister John Key and his official delegation were paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat, followed by a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan and meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen bilateral relations (see separate story in this Section).
High Tech Summit
Mr Anthony said that the INZBC-FICCI partnership will deliver a high quality ‘Edutech Summit’ that will be useful for the education and training sectors.
“We will shortly commence work on the Summit including choice of keynote speakers, panellists for discussions and promotional activities,” he said.
He was accompanied by INZBC Treasurer Bhav Dhillon and Executive Committee Member Jacob Mannothra.
A while later, the three INZBC officials met Dr Anup Wadhawan, Additional Secretary, Commerce & Industry Ministry and Lead Negotiator on Free Trade Agreements and other officials.
“We also signed a MoU with the Association of Chambers of Commerce for ongoing partnership on a number of programmes,” Mr Anthony said.
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Photo Caption:
- INZBC-FICCI Partnership: Wenceslaus Anthony, Bhav Dhillon, Alwyn Didar Singh and others at the MoU signing ceremony
- Going forward for Free Trade: (From Left) Dammu Ravi (Joint Secretary, Commerce & Industry), Jacob Mannothra, Wenceslaus Anthony, Dr Anup Wadhawan (Additional Secretary Commerce & Industry), Bhav Dhillon, Sudhanshu Pandey (Joint Secretary, Commerce & Industry), Seetharam Reddy (Additional Director General, Foreign Trade).
