NRI/PIO ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS CONFERENCE BRINGS OUT EXCELLENT ANALYSIS BY TOP SPEAKERS

conference was chaired by outgoing GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham

Sep 17, 2009

The conference was chaired by outgoing GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham who said, “In the last 200 years, the world has seen three successful diasporas who have contributed to the well being of their members and their Motherland, i.e. British, Jewish and Chinese, now, it is the turn of Indian Diaspora to become one of the most dynamic and emerging Diaspora which is spread in 150 countries of the world.” GOPIO as an organization has made its presence felt in more than 30 countries of the world. GOPIO organizers hope to increase trade, investment and business opportunities between countries with large PIO population and India.

“Overseas Indians have played a major role for India to become a destination for new investments and setting new businesses as well as important role in for many multinational companies to go to India,” Dr. Abraham continued. “With the financial success of Overseas Indians, many countries are reaching out to Overseas Indians for investments because of their advantages in having access to new technologies,” said Dr. Abraham.

The keynote speaker at the session was India's Deputy Consul General Dr. Ajay Gondane who said that NIRS and PIOs mobilized themselves for their common benefit and their love for their motherland is worthy of emulation. Indian Diaspora was not engaged with its motherland for a long time, however, it has come of age now. "GOPIO has brought in this concept from nebulous stage and built a strong presence in many countries," said Dr. Gondane who further called upon GOPIO members and the PIO community for more economic engagement with India.

Former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago praised GOPIO for its role in reaching out the PIO community in developing countries. “GOPIO had been responsible in bringing an Indian Diaspora Movement among the PIO population all over the world and PIOs from the Caribbean and other developing countries look to GOPIO as a guiding force,” said Panday.

Conference Co-chair Dr. Maya Chadda, professor of political science at William Paterson University setting the tone of the conference, said strong subsidy r3giem and bureaucratic controls coupled with lack of reforms in labor market acted as a deterrent to spur more investments. Dr. Chadda said that questions were asked as to what the Indian Diaspora had done to capacity building such as education, healthcare, drinking water facilities and poverty alleviation measures. Indian remittances stood at $52 billion compared to $40 billion from China, Still there are lot more pains to erased.

Photo below: NRI/PIO Economic and Business Inaugural Session at GOPIO 20th. Convener Ashook Ramsaran welcoming the delegates. Seated from L. to R. Former T&T Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, Indian Deputy Consul General Dr. Ajay Gondane, Conference Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, Inder Singh and Conference Co-Chair Dr. Maya Chadda

Photo above: Speakers at the First Session, from L. to R. Sanjay Ruparelia, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Sreedhar Menon and Dr. Maya Chadda

The first session India & the Global Economy: Prospects and Challenges was chaired by Dr. Chadda. Speakers were Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy Columbia Univ. School of International & Public Affairs; Sreedhar Menon, Chairman of the Board, Strategic Advisor & Co-Promoter of VITEOS Fund Services Inc., NJ and Bangalore; and Dr. Sanjay Ruparelia, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow of the India China Institute, New School for Social Research, New York, NY. All speakers provided excellent analysis on the impact of global economy challenges on India.

Former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner delivered the keynote address before the next session. Wisner, praised the role of Indian Diaspora for its involvement in India's social and economic development. “Similarly, education, social reforms, better living conditions like electricity and roads could help change things in Pakistan. If more schools are opened in Pakistan, fewer students would go to the Madrasas”, he said.

Wisner dismissed fears in some quarters that only George W. Bush was very close to India and not President Barack Obama. "This is not true, Obama has priorities in foreign policy such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East and it is wrong to say that he is anti-India," said Wisner.

Wisner further said that “India and the US had a different kind of relationship in 1950s and ‘60s in the midst of Cold War. India was then just a place to visit the Taj Mahal and Jaipur. Now things have changed and India and the US share strategic relationship. The previous administration was sympathetic to India and also the present one and the next administration too would not be different from the previous ones.”

Session II of the conference titled Indian Diaspora - Prospects and Challenges in the Emerging Global Economy was chaired by Bharat Bhargava, former President of US-India American Chamber of Commerce, Washington, DC. Speakers were Lord Diljit Rana, Business Leader & Member of House of Lords, UK; Naveen Jain, CEO, Intelius, Bellevue, WA; Vibhuti Jha, Director, The Human Potential Project, New York and Martin Singh, an Indo-Caribbean businessman from Florida. Speakers bought out the role the Indian Diaspora could play in the changing economy. Jain called upon the Diaspora to be generous to the local community.

Session III titled, Diaspora in India's Development was chaired byProf. P. Somasundaran, La von Duddleson Krumb Professor School of Engineering Columbia University, New York. Speakers were Dr. Sanjay Sinho, CEO of American India Foundation, New York; Dr. George Abraham, MD, FRCS, Medical Director, ED & EMS, Troy Community Hospital; Chair and Secretary, American Academy for Emergency Medicine in India and President and Managing Trustee, Institute of Emergency Medical Services (IIEMS); Troy, Pennsylvania; Dr. Surendra Kaushik, Prof. of Finance, Lubin School of Business, Pace University (New York) and Founder Chairman, Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women's College, Rajasthan, India; Pavit Mattewal, Mattewal La Offices, Chandigarh, India and B.C.Gupta, IAS, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Govt. of Punjab

Session ISession IV - Indian Diaspora in Social Development - What could we do? was chaired by Yesu Persaud, Chairman, Demerara Ltd. and Chairman of the Caribbean Council for Europe (CCE), Guyana. Speakers were Dr. Raj Warrier, Vice Chancellor, Manipal University, India; Aruneshwar Gupta, Former Advocate General of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India; and Pritpal Singh Pannu, Chairman, National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists (NIFAA), Karnal, Haryana, India.

A special Presentation by Shefali Chaturvedi, CEO, Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) managed by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) provided details services provided by OIFC to NRI/PIO community.

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