Roundtable Discussion on Indo-Pacific Strategy with Mr. Thomas L. Vajda, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South And Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India

Roundtable Discussion on Indo-Pacific Strategy with Mr. Thomas L. Vajda, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South And Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State – 12 February 2019

On Tuesday, 12th February 2019, AMCHAM India organized a roundtable discussion on Indo-Pacific strategy with Mr. Thomas L. Vajda, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South And Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State. The meeting began with opening remarks by Ms. Surabhi Wahal, Regional Director – Western Region, AMCHAM India. This was followed by a welcome address by Ms. Kaku Nakhate, Vice Chairperson, AMCHAM and President & Country Head (India), Bank of America N.A. and an address by Consul General Edgard D. Kagan, U.S. Consulate General Mumbai.

Mr. Thomas L. Vajda began his address by thanking everyone present and acknowledging the wonderful experience and the relationship he shared with AMCHAM during his tenure as U.S. Consul General Mumbai from 2014-2017. Through his keynote he actively discussed and shared insight on the vision of the Indo-Pacific strategy as an area of partnership between the U.S. and the Indo region. He highlighted the key areas of focus namely defense and security, governance, energy, infrastructure, cyber security and the intent of the U.S. government to explore ways to promote partnership with the private sector in the region. The floor was opened for an interactive discussion with AMCHAM members which saw candid sharing of issues and feedback on the ease of doing business for American companies doing business in India and the region.

In closing, Mr. Vajda reiterated the keen support of the U.S. Consulate, U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Department of State to U.S. companies in India and the neighboring countries. The meeting concluded with closing remarks and vote of thanks by Ms. Ursula Thakkar, Chairperson – Western Region, AMCHAM and Managing Director, South Asia, Lubrizol Advanced Materials India Pvt. Ltd.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Futuristic India, Deeper Applications of Renewable Energy Summit

On 12th February 2019, AMCHAM’s Karnataka chapter hosted its annual seminar focussed on renewable energy on the topic ‘Futuristic India, Deeper Applications of Renewable Energy Summit’ at the Conrad, Bengaluru. The event was in participation with the Karnataka State Government where a speaker from BESCOM/KREDIL was present to speak about government initiatives in the renewable energy space. Mr. Shreenath, DGM Smart Grid & Electric Vehicles, joined the seminar. Topics included grid in the new energy landscape and energy conservation through effective air handling units followed by an interactive session with questions from the audience.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Breakfast Meeting with Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, KREA University

On February 7th, AMCHAM’s Tamil Nadu Chapter held a breakfast meeting with guest speaker Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, KREA University, on the topic of the need for a liberal arts education. The meeting began with Mr. R. Ramkumar, Chairman – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AMCHAM, welcoming members and setting the tone. He said that during the past two years the focus of AMCHAM has been on the need for improving the ‘infrastructure’ – physical, health, education, logistics, legal, etc. making it conducive for socio economic growth and for the business environment to grow and create jobs and wealth for all stake holders. Mr. Ramkumar added that jobs of the future were leading towards liberal arts and the new private universities in India have begun the reform of India’s education system, which bodes good for the country.

Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy began his address to members by saying that education is the cement to culture. He said that a recent survey revealed that there are only 82 institutions that have been created by man which are over 500 years old and in continuous operation, of which 71 of them are educational institutions. Dr. Ramaswamy said that the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1439, led to the process of democratization of education and that presently we were in the midst of the 4th industrial revolution with machine learning, IOT, AI amongst other technology advancements. He also said that, if the first Industrial Revolution brought about momentous changes in society as a result of steam induced mechanical power, and the discovery of electricity ushered in the Second Industrial Revolution, the current industrial revolution’s hallmark is “all things digital.”

The key takeaways of Dr. Ramaswamy’s address included 1) Human – machine interaction, where machines are cognitive and beginning to think. Machines not only substitute but take over human tasks. 2) Today, humans live longer, travel longer and build more communities, in addition to virtual travel and virtual communities. 3) There is more of human – human interaction and human – nature interaction and that the world is facing a resource crunch to sustain the 8 billion population. There are more people alive on the planet today than all the people who lived and died till about the 1950’s and this is rising with better rates of life expectancy. The challenges and opportunities of this century are substantially different in scale, scope, and pace.

Dr. Ramaswamy said that in such a rapidly evolving world, liberal arts and sciences equips the youth of today with the tools and perspectives to continually adapt. The competencies that liberal arts and sciences majors emphasize – curiosity (about various disciplines), creativity, critical thinking, comprehension, collaboration, and communication (oral and written) – are all talents and skills that are in ever increasing demand in today’s market place.

Students ought to learn ‘how to learn’ rather than simply ‘what to learn’ – as information is increasingly available to anyone with a smart phone and an internet connection; students should learn how to think through complex problems by looking for solutions from different perspectives; students ought to learn how to interact with different individuals regardless of their gender, caste, race, religion, or class; such students who possess and develop these talents and skills become valuable employees, citizens, and ultimately ‘adaptively versatile’ human beings. He added that the 3 R’s have given way to the 6 C’s.

In this increasingly connected and digital world, STEM skills will remain vital but as noted by many, we also need the expertise of those who are educated to the human, cultural, and social in additional to the computation aspects of living. The study of the ‘human condition’ in a sense becomes ever more crucial as machines become cognitively connected to humans. It is important to understand ‘what it means to be ‘human’; how to communicate with and interact with ‘other’ humans’ and how to develop a sense of empathy. And for all of this, courses in the traditional humanities, literature, social sciences provide those foundations.

Liberal arts and sciences, Dr. Ramaswamy said, prepares students to work in a variety of sectors as it helps them achieve a strong foundation in different subjects and skills. Acting as a stepping stone to different careers, it also helps student manoeuvre out of one career to another. After all a student’s first job is rarely their last—at such critical turning points in one’s career, a person ought to be able to rely and reflect back on the foundational education and grounding received in College on how to cope with such changes. So, a true liberal arts and sciences education prepares you for life! Liberal arts he said gives the student the freedom to choose.

An interactive session was followed by Mr. Ramkumar thanking Dr. Ramaswamy for his insights and the participants for attending the meeting.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Medical Devices Committee Meeting with Ms. Aileen Nandi, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India

Medical Devices Committee Meeting with Ms. Aileen Nandi, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy – 05 February 2019

AMCHAM organized a meeting of the Medical Devices Committee with Ms. Aileen Nandi, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy, at the American Centre in New Delhi on February 5th. Other Embassy officials included Mr. Darrel Ching, Principal Commercial Officer, Mr. Gregory Taevs, Acting Deputy Senior Commercial Officer and Ms. Bhavna Vishwakarma, Senior Commercial Specialist. The purpose of the meeting was to brief the Embassy officials on the key challenges faced by U.S. based medical devices companies in India before the visit of U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Wilbur Ross in February 2019. AMCHAM participants included Mr. Arnab Basumallik, Edwards Life Sciences, Ms. Shubhra Thakur, Boston Scientific, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, India Medtronic and Ms. Tanu Arora, Stryker. From AMCHAM, Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General and CEO and Ms. Tanya Paul, Communication Director, joined the meeting.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

ICT Committee Meeting

The ICT Committee of AMCHAM held a committee meeting on 5th February 2018 under the chairmanship of Mr. Amit Sharma, Executive Vice President and President Asia, ATC India. Members took stock of the activities during 2018 and planned activities for 2019. Issues such as intermediary guidelines, OTT regulations and data protection were brought up. The need for capacity building and skilling through technology transfer between members and the government led by AMCHAM was also proposed.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Northern Region Council Executive Committee Meeting

The Northern Region Council of AMCHAM met on a concall on February 5th, 2019. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Amit Sharma, Chairman – Northern Region Council, AMCHAM and Executive Vice President and President Asia, ATC India. Members of the council expressed their thanks and gratitude to Mr. Amit Sharma for leading the activities of the Northern Region Council 2018-19. The NRC Executive Committee elected the office bearers for 2019-20. The outgoing Chairman thanked the committee members for their support and conveyed his best wishes to the new committee leadership, assuring them his full support.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.