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Opening the proceedings of the Annual Day 2010,
Varanasi Chairman Vinay Kumar described the occasion
as historical and welcomed Ambassador Roemer. Kumar
also welcomed other officials from the US Embassy and
hoped that their visit would boost exports of hand-made
carpets and other products from this region.
In his speech, Lall pointed out that the visit coincides with
the intention of both the countries to engage themselves
in diverse trade, investment and technology areas to take
the relationship to a higher orbit of growth. The US
Ambassador's visit to Varanasi was a testimony to the
importance of the city as a spiritual and commercial
centre of India, said, adding that it would inspire more
visits by the US citizens to the city to imbibe the cultural,
historical and intellectual legacy but also enhance their
participation in commercial activities of the region.
Professor (Ms.) Vidula Jaiswal, Banaras Hindu University,
commented briefly on cultural heritage of Varanasi and
Past Chairman of IACC, Varanasi Anurag Chandra
presented brief bio-data of the Ambassador.
Ambassador Roemer spoke briefly on the topic, “Indo-US
Relations: Future Prospects. He pointed out that merely
15 years ago India was at the 25th place on list of
countries which traded with the US. It had moved
upwards to the 14th place at present. However, at present
terrorism has emerged as a serious threat to the
development to trade and commerce and that was why
America had joined hands with India to face this problem
effectively, he said.
the people of both the countries, Ambassador Roemer
added.
He said that both countries are working on green
economy and joint efforts are being made to create
research opportunities and develop technology that can
slow down the pace of climate change. He lauded the
vision of the people who formed IACC in 1968 a
laughable initiative at that time, as no commercial activity
existed between the two countries. “But the idea of IACC
was futuristic and today India has become the 14th
largest trade partner of the US,” Ambassador Roemer
said.
At the end of his address, Ambassador Roemer took
questions from the audience, which related to education,
industry, US. VISA norms, American investment and
cultural exchanges.
Past Chairman of Varanasi Ashok Kapoor, Convener of
the programme, proposed a vote of thanks. The
proceedings of the event were conducted by Ms. Anita
Dey.
Senior members of Varanasi present on the occasion
included Tanmaya Deva, Puneet Raman, Debashis
Mukherjee, R.K. Goel, Subrato Paul, Ahsan Khan, R.C.
Jain, Kailash Naraian Baranwal, R.K. Bothra, V.G. Unni,
Lal Chand Maurya, Shyam Dhar Maurya, Arun Kumar
Agrawal, Ashwani Kumar, Sahil Garg, Aiklavya Singh,
Vinay Shukla, Rajendra Tandon and Chandra Shekher
Mishra.
Ambassador Roemer stressed the importance of small,
medium-scale industries,
pointing out the
potential that this
sector held for
p r o v i d i n g
employment
opportunities. He
backed the US-India
Civilian Nuclear
Agreement saying that
it offered mutual
benefits. All Indians
would have access to
affordable energy
while employment and
e c o n o m i c
opportunities would
also be generated for
INDO-US BUSINESS SPECIAL ISSUE
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