Communiqué November 2009 | 1 - CII

eportUnited KingdomThe President of India, Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil, madea state visit to UK from 26-29 October, accompaniedby a senior business delegation. The CII delegationaccompanying the President was led by Mr AjayShriram, Chairman, CII Business@CommonwealthGames Committee, and Chairman and Senior ManagingDirector, DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd. Senior industrymembers, including Mr J P Chowdhary Past President,CII, and Chairman, Titagarh Wagons Ltd.; Mr Ravi Kant,Vice Chairman, Tata Motors Ltd; Mr Baba Kalyani,Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd.; andMr Phiroz Vandrevala, Executive Director & Head GlobalCorporate Affairs, Tata Consultancy Services, wereamong the delegates.On the sidelines of the Presidential Visit, on 28 October,the CII delegation interacted with the members of theCII-IBF-UK to discuss ’2010: Where are we headed?’ Thediscussions centered around the financial revival andopportunities for Indian companies in the UK and Europe.It was felt that the time is right for Indian companiesto acquire business in the UK and Europe, and, at thesame time, it is necessary to spur the interest of UKcompanies to invest in India’s infrastructure growth. Themembers also explored new ideas on promoting andmarketing various investment projects in India, pointingto the need to build awareness of the opportunities aswell as the funds available for such projects, as wellincrease understanding of Indian culture and its influenceon ’Doing Business with India. The IBF membersdiscussed the scope of increasing cultural awarenesswith the help of its membership base from the mediaand entertainment industry.More than 30 leading Indian companies based in the UKare members of the IBF-UK. The IBF-UK is a Forum jointlyset up by CII in cooperation with the High Commissionof India. It is a group of CII member companies basedin the UK, with the High Commissioner as Mentor.On 29 October, the CII delegation accompanying thePresident of India, participated in the Annual Conferenceof the UKIBC at the Lancaster House, London where MsPratibha Patil addressed select members of the businesscommunity of UK.Later, the delegation participated in the ’Passing theBaton Ceremony’ at Buckingham Palace.The delegation members also participated in thebusiness sessions at the UKIBC Annual Conference.Mr Ajay Shriram and Mr Phiroz Vandrevala sharedtheir experiences of the growth of their companies ata session on ’Insight- A View From the Top.’ Mr RaviKant and Mr J P Chowdhary spoke on ‘InternationalMarket Entry Strategies, what worked and what didn’t’and ’Innovate- Next Generation India,’ respectively.CII members also participated in the various publicengagements of thePresident of Indiaincluding the receptionsand dinners hostedby Mr Nalin Surie,High Commissioner ofIndia to UK, and theState Dinner hostedby the Lord Mayor ofLondon.At the CII-IBF-UK meet on ’2010: Where are we headed?’United States of AmericaSession with Amb Timothy J. Roemer8 October: New DelhiCII had the honour of organising the first publicsession of Ambassador Roemer with members of IndianIndustry, since he assumed diplomatic office in India.Amb Roemer, a six time Congressman, shared thatIndia US trade, despite having doubled in the last fiveyears, still has the potential to increase manifold. Indiaand the US held a successful first round of negotiationsover the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Outlining 5strategic avenues between the Indian and Americanbusiness community, he urged greater cooperationin energy, power and electrical grid; food securityand agricultural cooperation; rural development andpoverty eradication; defence and security; and greatercommitment to working together at the India-US CEOsForum.Communiqué November 2009 | 73