India Business and Entrepreneurship Summit to Feature President Obama

Monday October 25, 2010 , 5 min Read

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The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) announced its plans to organize a major business summit in Mumbai on the occasion of President Barack Obama’s first State Visit to India. The Business and Entrepreneurship Summit in Mumbai on November 6 in partnership with the U.S.Department of Commerce and Confederation of Indian Industry will highlight the benefits of export-led American growth being generated by India’s rising economy and purchasing power, the new investment flowing from India revitalizing American businesses, and the innovation by “next generation” entrepreneurs utilizing U.S. knowhow and technology.

“This Business and Entrepreneurship Summit in India’s financial capital will be the President’s first stop with the business community in India, enabling the President to experience first-hand the excitement underway being generated by the entrepreneurial spirit that unites our business communities and which binds our two countries. The fact the President has agreed to address this Business Summit demonstrates the priority this Administration places on creating jobs for America by cultivating deeper commercial ties with India, the world’s largest free-market economy,” said USIBC President Ron Somers.

“The commercial focus of this visit will unleash jobs and opportunities that will benefit the American economy at a time when jobs are needed, while providing nurturing collaborations in technology that will ensure inclusive growth in India for decades to come. As only the sixth U.S. President to visit India, and the first to travel there during his first term, President Obama’s aspirations for a stronger U.S.-India partnership will help align our two great democracies to shape the economic destiny of the 21st Century,” Somers said.

USIBC is the primary business advocacy organization at the forefront of the bilateral commercial relationship, driving closer relations between the world’s largest free-market democracies. USIBC is launching its largest and most important Executive Mission to India in its 35-year history to participate in the President’s November 6th visit to India.

USIBC’s goal is to enhance two-way trade, now surpassing $50 billion, spur investment by India into the United States, create opportunities for greater U.S. export-led growth of high technology and high-end manufactured goods that will support India’s $1.7 trillion infrastructure build-out, and foster new frontiers of technology collaboration that will help address the global challenges facing both countries – energy security, food security, water security, and protection of the environment. “The scope for cooperation on every level by our companies and their Indian counterparts is limitless,” said Somers. “Our aim is to organize a Business Summit that highlights these opportunities for American companies, and which results in new business partnerships and collaborations.”

“One simple example of how a rising India translates into greater prosperity for the United States,” said Ron Somers, “is Mumbai’s new airport, which involved U.S. highend manufacturing and services by some of America’s finest firms. The largest petroleum refinery in the world at Jamnagar was recently completed by Bechtel. Boeing aircraft are filling India’s skies, powered by GE and Pratt & Whitney jet engines – helping India maintain a burgeoning civilian airline industry growing at 30% annually. This list goes on and on.”

American companies are exporting billions of dollars worth of goods and services to India, driving growth, job creation and innovation throughout the United States. As Indian companies with strong balance sheets continue to invest billions of dollars into the United States, these investments have become important engines for the U.S. economic recovery. “The USIBC Presidential Executive Mission and Business Summit will underscore the synergies for growth that bind us together as partners and which benefits both countries, emphasizing how increased trade and investment presents a ‘win-win’ opportunity for both our countries,” Somers concluded.

This relationship of mutual reward, investment and discovery will foster new and innovative solutions to key challenges, including clean water, green energy, health care, improved agriculture, technology cooperation, as well as modern infrastructure development – all areas where American and Indian entrepreneurs can excel together.

“This is the time when the governments and private sectors of both countries must focus on sustained economic growth and job creation. USIBC stands ready with its partners to support the President’s ambitious and vital agenda in India. ”

The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the U.S. Government to advance commercial ties between the world’s two largest free-market democracies, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

Agenda of the Summit

1:00 pm Inaugural Session

Welcome by Terry McGraw, Chariman, U.S.-India Business council President & CEO, McGraw-Hill Companies.
· Keynote address by Secretary Gary Locke, U.S. Department of Commerce.
· Special address by Pranab Mukherjee,Union Finance Minister of India.

1:45 pm Panel Disucssion

The U.S.-India Commercial Relationship A 'Two-Way Highway' Creating Jobs and Opportunities for Both Societies

Themes

1) India’s Approach to Growth

2) Bilateral engagement through trade and investment

3) Expanding integrated supply chains to SMEs

2:35 pm Panel Disucssion

Elevating the Relationship The Path Toward Implementation

Themes

1) Addressing the barriers impeding job-creating investment

2) Promoting discovery, incentivizing technology exchange, protecting innovation

3) Enhancing efficiencies in infrastructure, food & water security, and empowering society through health and education