AMCHAM’s Medical Devices Core Committee held a meeting on September 27th to discuss priority areas of policy and regulatory advocacy regarding ease of doing business and access to innovation. Industry members from GE Healthcare, BD, Boston Scientific, India Medtronic, Teleflex, Edwards Lifesciences, Bio Rad, Johnson & Johnson, among others participated in this meeting. To drive the policy  and regulatory agenda, the committee set up 4 subgroups: 1) Ease of Doing Business, 2) Access to Innovation, 3) Regulatory and 4) Engagement with Bangladesh.

On 27th September, members of AMCHAM’s Defense Committee convened at the Boeing office in New Delhi. Ms. Udaya Arun, Director, AMCHAM welcomed participants and laid down the agenda. Mr. Alain Garcia, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President, Global Business Development – India, Boeing Defense, Space and Security, The Boeing Company shared a brief overview of the past interactions the committee had with senior leaderships in both governments including interactions with Joint Secretary Vishwesh Negi, Joint Secretary Anurag Bajpai and Joint Secretary Satyajit Mohanty, Ministry of Defence, Government of India and Ms. Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (R&E), U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Samit Ray, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Deputy Vice President Government Affairs & Public Policy, RTX reenforced his views on the need to collaborate with other associations during high level delegation visits. Ms. Arun briefly shared an update with members on the capability deck and the platform for its release with Defense Secretary Giridhar Aramane in the coming weeks. Members shared updates on DefExpo 2024 and its potential dates and venue that their offices were tracking. Mr. Nilesh Christian, Deputy Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy also shared prospective dates and venue that the Embassy was tracking regarding DefExpo 2024.

AMCHAM’s Medical Device Committee and Pharmaceuticals Committee members participated in the Department of Pharmaceuticals (Government of India) Launch of National Policy on Research and Development and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech Sector in India, and the Scheme for Promotion of Research & Innovation in Pharma MedTech Sector (PRIP) held on September 26th in New Delhi.

On September 25^th, the first meeting of AMCHAM’s Pharmaceuticals Committee for the year 2023-24 was held in Gurugram (in hybrid fashion) under the chairmanship of Mr. Rakesh Bamzai, Chairman – Pharmaceuticals Committee, AMCHAM and MD & CEO, Mylan Laboratories Ltd. and Ms. Neelima Dwivedi, Co-Chairperson –  Pharmaceuticals Committee, AMCHAM and Executive Director, MSD Pharmaceuticals. The meeting was followed by an interactive session with U.S. Embassy officials: Mr. Jonathan Heimer, Honorary National Board Member, AMCHAM and Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, Ms. Durra Elmaki, Commercial Officer and Mr. Naveen Rai,  Sr. Commercial Specialist (Policy & Government Relations), U.S. Embassy. Industry Experts from Blackstone, Mylan, Johnson & Johnson,  Baxter and Deloitte participated. The key activities and initiatives proposed for this year would be a signature event, continued stakeholder engagement and policy advocacy, idea exchange forum and elevating the pharma industry as a key contributor to industry wide policy forums. The committee discussed the idea of a pharma industry CSR event and policy doorknock in India. The committee also discussed creating a whitepaper to focus on policy issues that could be shared with both the Indian and U.S. governments.

AMCHAM’s Eastern Region Executive Committee held the third meeting of the year on September 22nd in Kolkata under the leadership of Mr. Atanu Mukherjee, Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM. The meeting opened with ratifying the minutes of 2nd Eastern Region Executive Committee meeting held on July 31st, 2023. The meeting objective was to finalize the focus area for the annual session planned on November 20th. The suggested theme of the session would be India’s vision of achieving a $5 trillion economy. Speakers would talk about the outcome of the recently held G20 Summit and major focus of U.S.-India collaboration. Speakers would also delve into how to reduce the regional imbalances, keeping in mind the focus on the economic development of North Eastern states. AMCHAM would work on the concept note and identify prospective speakers. Members also showed their concern about the visibility of the chamber in the region. Several recommendations come up including a friendly golf tournament involving senior bureaucrats, officials from the U.S. Consulate and other important people in the city. Increasing AMCHAM membership for the region was highlighted. The meeting concluded with thanks to the Chair.

An initiative of the CSR Committee, AMCHAM’s 7th CSR Conference: Impact of Climate Crisis was held on September 21st over Webex. Ms. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AMCHAM welcomed participants and introduced speakers. Mr. Harish Krishnan, Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC, in his opening remarks set the tone for the session highlighting the importance of climate commitments. He encouraged participants to ask questions during the sessions and challenge ideas of how to sustain an inclusive and regenerative future for all.

Session 1: Importance of Climate and Role in CSR was moderated by Mr. Aaron Schubert, Deputy Director, Indo-Pacific Office, USAID with Mr. John Holm, Senior Vice President, Partnership Development, PYXERA Global and Ms. Sumi Mehta, Vice President, Environmental and Climate Health, Vital Strategies. The panel discussed regenerative and equitable transition for corporates, how to counterbalance the power dynamics at play, desire for true systems change, intersection of health and climate, air pollution, protecting vulnerable populations and using data to set priorities and measure benefits of actions taken. Examples of partnerships in the climate arena with USAID around the world were shared. Ideas on the circular economy and how supply chain leaders can identify and prioritize opportunities to apply circular economy principles were shared.

In Session 2: Innovative Ways of Funding Climate Impact, Mr. Peter Tavernise, Climate Impact and Regeneration Lead, Cisco Foundation Climate Initiative and Director, Chief Sustainability Office, Cisco gave a presentation on ‘Climate Impact & Regeneration Portfolio.’ In terms of capital needs, he spoke about access and affordability to underserved markets, blended finance solutions for nature-based and indigenous solutions and catalytic grants. He also shared specific success stories of blended finance and investment partners from Cisco’s grant portfolio. He shared his expertise about how to push for collaborative sustainability and climate action with vendors and his experience in designing a climate investment strategy. 

Both sessions included a Q&A segment with participants. In concluding remarks, Mr. Harish Krishnan, Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM, thanked the speakers for their wisdom and gave some hope that together, organizations, corporations and people, together, can make a difference. Private sector has the potential to scale climate mitigation operations. The conference was made possible by event partner: Cisco.