CHICAGO: A three-day business jaunt by a high level government delegation led by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh to Chicago from November 29 to December 1turned out to be a success.
The prime objective of the visit was to encourage and promote US investments in Chhattisgarh, particularly in the areas of food processing, engineering, manufacturing, IT, renewable energy and infrastructure projects. The visit was coordinated by the Indian Consulate in Chicago.
The delegation comprised senior officers of Government of Chhattisgarh including Vivek Dhand, Chief Secretary, Aman Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary to CM & IT and Subodh Singh, Secretary, Commerce & Industries, among others.
The delegates took a field visit on November 30 to ‘1871’ – Chicago’s renowned Centre for Technology & Entrepreneurship, which was created in 2012 to support Chicago’s digital startup community. The Chhattisgarh delegation found the model of support rendered to young entrepreneurs and start-ups in ‘1871’, especially through the medium of universities, inspiring and relevant for Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh state.
The Indian Consulate organized a Business Luncheon for the Chhattisgarh delegation the same day in collaboration with USIBC, TiE Midwest and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
The CEOs of around 60 top-notch companies of Chicagoland area attended the event, besides delegates from Minneapolis, Indianapolis and St. Louis.
Hardik Bhatt, CIO of Illinois & Secretary Designate, Innovation & Technology, Hovan Asdourian, Director, U.S. Commercial Service-Chicago, U.S. Department of Commerce, Ian Steff, Executive VP & Chief Innovation Officer of Indiana, Dennis Pruitt, VP of International Business Recruitment, Missouri Partnership were among the prominent attendees representing the Government agencies.
The Chhattisgarh delegation made a grand presentation titled ‘Credible Chhattisgarh: An Incredible Launch Pad for Business’ showcasing business and investment opportunities in the state. In his address to the business leaders CM Dr Raman Singh highlighted the investor-friendly policies adopted by his State. He also participated in a Q&A session and answered queries from potential investors.
The Chhattisgarh delegation had one-to-one business meetings with several leading companies from Chicago including M/s VeriOwn – a subsidiary of M/s New Generation Power (NGP), M/s RLD Resources and Bloom Companies etc.
A delegation each from Indianapolis and Minnesota called on the Chief Minister and his delegation to discuss business tie ups with Chhattisgarh. The Indianapolis delegation comprised Raju Chintala, President, Indianapolis Hyderabad Sister City Committee & Indiana India Business Council, Mrs.
Sumeeta Bhatia, Vice Chairman, India Association of Indianapolis and Situ Mistry, Board Member, India Association of Indianapolis while Minnesota delegation comprised Sudhir Singh, President, International India Chamber of Commerce, Minneapolis (IICCO), Vineet Sinha, Vice President, IICCO , Ms. Elizabeth Fritz, Executive Director, IICCO and Tony S. Dassan, Member, IICCO .
Members of the delegation also visited the Art Institute of Chicago, which was the venue from where Swami Vivekananda had addressed the Parliament of World Religions on September 11, 1893. The CM also visited the India Gallery which had dozens of rare exhibits from Central India.
India Post News Service
