Nagpur.
There was a curtain raiser get together of the international luminaries who have come for Global Nagpur summit 2015 and other speakers and Nagpurians this evening.
Speaking informally to the guests, Dy High Commissioner, Kumar, who is in charge of all trade deals with India said it was time tier two cities like Nagpur received focus and began growing like urbanized metropolis have grown.
When Indian PM. Modi was in UK few days ago, the two PMs, Modi and Cameron signed a joint statement that touched upon developing ‘smart cities’ in India.
The two Prime Ministers announced three UK-India city partnerships with Indore, Pune and Amaravati to support India’s ambitious urban development goals through technical assistance, expertise sharing and business engagement. Though Nagpur is not mentioned in the list, UK officials are evincing a lot of interest in its development, given that the CM of Maharashtra is from here.
The two Prime Ministers welcomed the development of Technical Assistance partnership between the UK Department of International Development and the Indian Ministry of Urban Development for national and state-led support for the development of smart and sustainable cities that are drivers of inclusive growth and job creation.
Mr. Kumar Iyer is accompanied by an entire team of assistants who will be on hand for the next two days to assist any Nagpur businessman who is interested in developing business ties with UK.
Apart from the team from UK there were officials from Sweden and other European countries who are looking at Nagpur keenly.
In the private sector there was Amit Waikar, Sr V.P. of Dohler, a Nagpur boy who as President of the India Association at Shanghai was the man responsible for the grand civic reception Modi got from 6000 Indians at the iconic venue of the Shanghai World Expo.
Such is the commitment of this Nagpur guy, educated in Somalwar, Govt. Science College and Dept. of Business Management, that he came to Nagpur to be at the global summit when Rajnath Singh is in Shanghai!
He said, he was here to encourage any Nagpur trader, businessman who wants to deal with Chinese businessmen and need help in selecting the right fit.
There were other guys of Nagpur origin like Rahul Petkar, CEO, Canada of Polaris and Niraj Takalkhede of Rockwell Automation, USA.
With such Nagpur enthusiasts it is going to be two days of lively sessions at Persistent auditorium on Saturday and Sunday.
