The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) organized the second edition of the “India – Eurasia Business Partnership” Seminar, supported by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The first edition was held on 14th and 15th February 2013 with the kind support of Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
India’s diplomatic relations with Eurasian countries are over 22 years old in the post Soviet period. Despite that the trade level between India and Eurasian states is far below that of the true potential. It is strongly felt that time has come to promote closer engagement between both regions in the fields of business, education, science and technology, tourism and culture.
Emerging markets in Eurasia, led by Russia, open up a great opportunity for India as a possible alternative to the EU. A recent market survey report shows that traditional and non-traditional products produced in the Eastern region has good demand in the Eurasian market. These diversified products vary from jute bags, textiles, small leather goods, tea, pharmaceuticals and herbal products, home decorative items, kitchen appliances, traditional handlooms, handicrafts and gift items to various engineering items used for infrastructure development, road construction machines, transmission line fittings, hospital equipment, chemicals and allied products. Besides, there is demand for IT services and products and even other service sectors. It has also been observed that some of the abovementioned products are being imported by a few Eurasian countries from India via Eastern India and other countries like UAE, Russia etc.
In this context, The Bengal Chamber organized the seminar in the Williamson Magor Hall in the Chamber premises, which was followed by B2B meetings. The seminar highlighted the prospects of international trade and regional economic cooperation between the Eurasian countries and India. The conference witnessed the participation of eminent speakers and dignitaries from the Government, Industry and Ambassadors & other diplomats from the Eurasian countries.
Special dignitaries from overseas were :
H.E. Mr. Oleksandr Shevchenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Ukraine
Ms. Irina Bashkirova, Consul General, Consulate General of the Russian Federation
Mr. Yaroslav Tarasyuk, Trade Commissioner, Embassy of the Russian Federation
Mr. Alexey Balunov, Project Director, CHETRA – Spare parts and components
Speakers from the Government and Industry for the Indian perspective were:
Dr. Subrata Gupta, IAS, Jute Commissioner, Office of the Jute Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India
Mr. Monojit Dasgupta, Secretary General, Indian Tea Association
Mr. Gudakesh Kumar, Manager, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd.
Some of the companies that participated in the B2B meet were Premur Impex Ltd., Kesaria & Co., Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd., Aegis Business Ltd., Megapro Consultants, East India Pharmaceutical Works Limited, etc.