Strengths of Republic of Mauritius:

 

Ø  The India-Mauritius CECPA is the first trade agreement signed by India with an African country. Came into force on 1 April 2021

Ø  Mauritius is member of SADC and COMESA and has a Free Trade Agreement within the COMESA (Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Burundi and Rwanda) which eliminated their tariffs on COMESA originating products which allow duty free transportation of goods from Mauritius to Eastern Africa.

Ø  Duty free transportation of goods to Africa via Mauritius using both trade agreements

Ø  Mauritius as a storage HUB for these products which can then be shipped to Africa as and when required.

Ø  It has successfully diversified its economy, notably into clothing manufacturing, information technology, and business and financial services.

Ø  Mauritius’s GDP is the highest in all the African Countries.

About HBCCIP

 

The Hindu Business Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Professionals – HBCCIP

• Mr. Shardhanand Beeharry, President of HBCCIP visited Ahmedabad for a B2B networking meet with GCCI members with 17 delegates from Mauritius.
• This is HBCCIP’s the largest delegation to any country so far. This has been the very first B2B meeting by Mauritius. It’s an honour to have hosted them at GCCI.

• Mr. Seewraj Nundlal, Investment & Trade Counsellor from Mauritius Economic Development Board, Mumbai listed out the above sectors wherein he can guide for trade and investments with Mauritius.

      GCCI B2B Networking Meet

• B2B Networking Meeting – GCCI members met one-on-one with the HBCCIP members of the above sectors.
• Industries of common Interest where Mauritius wanted to import & GCCI members desired to export were: Agricultural, Food Processing, Textile, Biomass, Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services, and Construction Materials.
• About more than 35 GCCI members participated in this Buyer – Seller meet.

Mr. Hemant Shah, president GCCI, Mr. Sanjiv Chajer the vice President of GCCI, Mr. Anil Jain, the Chairman of FTTF and Mr. Samir Sheth the Co-chairman of FTTF were invited to the JETRO office in Ahmedabad. 

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)'s Director General Mr. Takehirko Furukawa & the Director of Jetro, Mr. Satoru Iida introduced JETRO and its activities in Ahmedabad. 

JETRO has been working to help & promote its Indian Companies to Japan and Japanese Technology to Indian Companies. 

JETRO is very upbeat about the vision of our Prime Minister and hence has been very active in all the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and Expo. 

Overall this meeting started the GCCI and JETRO correlations for bilateral business refreshed.

Mr. Charles Somara the First Secretary, Mr. Bona Kusuma the Trade Attache and Erry Herjuno, Counsellor visited GCCI from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia on 20 May 2022. 

The members of GCCI, Presidents of Regional Chamber of Commerce, Food & Dairy products and Foreign Trade Task Forces of GCCI were present for this hybrid - Personal & virtual meeting. Chairman Mr. Hiren Gandhi of Food & Dairy Products Task Force, GCCI and Mr. Anil Jain, Chairman of Foreign Trade Task Force, GCCI were also present. 

Mr. Hemant Shah, President GCCI made a video presentation of GCCI while welcoming the Indonesia delegation. 

Mr. Kusuma had made a presentation on Indonesia with what the Indonesians need from Gujarat for our bilateral trade relations. 

The discussion was very interactive and members were involved to talk about various business opportunities with Indonesia.

Mr. Beeharry Shardanand the President of the Hindi Business Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Professionals - BCCIP and his team from Mauritius virtually got connected with GCCI members, its Regional Chamber of Commerce and the team from the Foreign Trade Task Force of GCCI. 

HBCCIP gave a wonderful presentation which defined their business needs from Gujarat. GCCI and the Regional Chamber of Commerce's also made respective presentations of what all we can offer to Mauritius. 

This is the beginning of bilateral trade and commerce with Mauritius and Gujarat.

It was very interactive and an invigorating meeting we had at GCCI on 4 may 2022.

We got to know about how the British High Commission is planning & working towards strengthening Gujarat and India, of course, from Mr. Peter cook, the Deputy High Commissioner of the High Commission of the United Kingdom, Ahmedabad.

Mr. Cook is aligned to the vision and growth of India. Mr. Cook supports education, trade, action-based plans to implement for the benefits of U.K and India both.  Also, we would like to help and support in any matter while the delegation is in Gujarat.

Mr. Hemant Shah, President of GCCI talked about the vision & mission of GCCI. Mr. Shah also highlighted the main focus areas of GCCI & Gujarat for trade between the two nations.

The meeting ended with exchanged desires to meet regularly for implementation of bilateral trade.

The Ambassador of the Royal Thai Embassy H.E. Ms. Pattarat Hongtong and the Consul General Mr. Donnawit Poolsawat from the Royal Thai Consulate General had visited GCCI with their respective teams. 

The Ambassador H.E. Ms. Pattarat Hongtong intended to visit Gujarat for the business opportunities and the Consul General Mr.  also accompanied to establish a strong bilateral trade relations with Gujarat. 

They gave a presentation on the the re-oriented and re-developed Thailand, which has more Trade and Commerce opportunities. The Ambassador said, "Make in Thailand, by Indians, for Indians" 

The Consul General Mr. Poolsawat is already keen to help the B2B match-making between Thailand and Gujarat. 

The meeting happened to be one with a lot of friendliness for bilateral business. 

We had the KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency), Director General Mr. Seungki Lee and the Trade Promotion officer Mr. Ronak Parekh had visited GCCI on 26 April 2022. 

Mr. Lee has recently joined the KOTRA office at Ahmedabad. 

This meeting was more of a courtesy meeting to get to know each other and the countries for Business promotions, business delegations and Investments & Innovations. 

Mr. Hemant Shah, President GCCI, requested them to establish contacts with their Chamber of Commerce such that GCCI and the respective Korean Chambers can exchange business opportunities. 

The meeting was interactive and beneficial. 

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) had an interactive meeting Mr. Alessandro Liberatori and his colleagues at GCCI on 7 th April 2022.

The President of GCCI, Mr. Hemant Shah cordially welcomed them.

Mr. Alessandro Liberatori gave us a brief on what Italian Trade Agency (ITA) does.

The ITA’s looks after the economic development of Italy and also helps, guides, trans and mentors the Indians who wish to do business in Italy.

The focus sectors for Italy are Clean Energy, Food Processing, Food technology, Leather etc. He further informed that they are

organizing an event / Expo in November 2022 in New Delhi.

Mr. Hemant Shah further informed the ITA representatives of the focus areas of GCCI and Gujarat based on the vision of our government.

The meeting was very fruitful and informative.

Mr. Ripudaman Singh Dhillon and his delegation of 16 young businessmen visited GCCI for a B2B networking meeting.

All the members of GCCI were invited for this unique opportunity for business in Canada.

Mr. Ripudaman Singh Dhillon, President of ICCC, said that now is

the time to invest in India. Now India has sustainable businesses

and investments. India has the strength to become one of the

largest economies in the world in the coming few years.

 

The Presidents of both the Chamber of Commerce, the GCCI &

the ICCC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for

strengthening the bilateral relations, planning & inviting for

networking meets, Trade Exhibitions and helping the Indians in

Canada for India and Indian Citizens for Canada.

This was a very interactive and beneficial meeting for all the members.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) had an interactive meeting. Mr. Tolhah Ubaidi, Consul (Economic Affairs) and his colleague, Mr. Rajesh Padaya, Senior Officer from the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai. 

The President of GCCI, Mr. Hemant Shah mentioned that various visits and meetings have happened in the past with Indonesia which is a very friendly country in the neighbourhood of India. 

This interactive meeting was to start trade and business between Indonesia and India. 

The main focus of Indonesia is in the below sectors: 

            1.      Global Health Architecture, 

2.      Digital Transformation

3.      Renewable Energy

This meeting was mutually beneficial.

Mr. Joachim Rocha, the Trade Commissioner from the Canadian Trade Office, Ahmedabad visited GCCI to discuss the main focus areas of Canada’s Trade with India.

Mr. Anil Jain, the chairman of the Foreign Trade Task Force discussed the vision of GCCI and the focus areas of GCCI from International Trade point of view.

Mr. Hemant Shah, President of GCCI, further requested for the coordination with the Chamber of Commerce in Canada for bilateral trade from GCCI members with the Canadian members.

On 18 February, 2022, a delegation led by Ambassador of Israel to India H.E. Mr. Naor Gilon, and the Consul General of Israel to Mumbai Mr. Kobbi Shoshani visited GCCI.

GCCI Office Bearers, Chairman and members of Foreign Trade Taskforce and Defence Committee had a fruitful interactive meeting with the delegation at GCCI.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry and The Israel Asia Chamber of Commerce and Israel-India Chamber of Commerce signed an MoU to join into a cooperative framework.

H.E. Mr. Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel stated that Israel is celebrating 30 years of bilateral relationship with India and has been actively involved in the Agriculture, Cooperation and Defence sector.

Overall, the meeting remained very interactive and mutually beneficial.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) had an interactive meeting Mr. Alejandro S. Marin and his colleagues at GCCI on 12 January 2022.

This is the very first interaction with Cuba at GCCI.

The President of GCCI mentioned the focus areas of GCCI this the current year as Defence – setting up, training, mentoring the defence industries to make India a self-reliant country for defence requirements. The President mentioned that Gujarat has a major market of Textile, Chemicals, dyes.

Cuba has ample of nickel and cobalt; metal industry is in focus. Cuba has free education hence the population is highly qualified and Cuba has many doctors and medical specialist working even out of Cuba.

Cuba has sugarcane, tobacco, marine industry.

Dr. Jaimin Vasa president, GCCI welcomed Mr. Md Luftor rahman, and concluded a great meeting with Mr. MD Luftor Rahman, Deputy high commissioner Bangladesh to Mumbai highlighted their talk to develop trade relations in inward investment & agriculture sectors and Mr.MD Lutfor mentioned to start immediate trade activities for promoting business in both countries to start sending business delegation, participate in trade fairs etc.
Dr. Jaimin Vasa suggested to start direct flight from Ahmedabad to Dhaka. He also discussed about unethical duty free advantages taken by other countries by using Bangladesh as a platform.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized Interactive meeting with the H.E. Mr. Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus on March 01, 2018 at 11:00 AM onwards at GCCI. The aim of Interactive meeting was to discuss opportunities of bilateral trade and strengthening relation (between India and Cyprus.

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed I-I.E. Mr. Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry. He stated that Gujarat has more than 5 lakh MSMEs which form the backbone of the trade and industry. He further mentioned that Chemicals, Dyes, Pharmaceuticals, Textiles, Medical Tourism, Mining, Renewable Energy and Shipping could be potential areas of cooperation between two countries.

H.E. Mr. Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus, highlighted in his address that Cyprus has competitive advantage due to its strategic location, access to EU markets, robust legal and taxation framework, high safety and ease of doing business. He stated that Education and Economy are their principal focus. He mentioned that Shipping, Tourism, Real Estate, Banking & Financial Services are traditional business sectors of Cyprus and Renewable Energy, Mining, Ports, Sports, Thermal Energy, are some of the emerging sectors. He further said that Cyprus has huge reserves of Natural Gas and India could import it.

The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by President.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry  organized  Interactive  meeting  with the H.E.  Ms.  Ann  Ollestad , Consulate General  of Norway  in India on January 3 151, 2018 at 3:00 PM onwards at GCCI. The aim of Interactive meeting was to discuss opportunities of bilateral trade and strengthening relation between  India and Norway. Women entrepreneurs from GCCI Women Wing (BWW) remained present in the meeting.

 

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed H.E. Ms. Ann Ollestad, Consulate General of Norway in India and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry. He mentioned that Norway has set an excellent example to the world in recycling waste, waste management practices and preserving environment. He highlighted that the two countries could further strengthen bilateral trade relations in various sectors such as Waste Treatment, IT, Science

& Technology, Healthcare, ship building, marine/sub-sea drilling equipment, hydropower, clean energy, paint manufacturer, telecom etc.

 

H.E. Ms. Ann Ollestad, Consulate General of Norway in India, highlighted in her address that Norway is keen on increasing business tie-ups with India and Gujarat is their preferred state. She mentioned that the "Innovation" spirit in Norway combined with "Entrepreneurial" spirit in Gujarat can boost business between the two countries. She emphasized the need to exchange high level delegation and mentioned that their delegation would visit India for B2B meetings in the month of April. She further mentioned that Norway is aggressively promoting cleaner and greener ports by electrifying ports and using renewable sources of energy.

 

The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by President.

 

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized an Interactive Meeting with H.E. Md. Lutfor Rahman , Deputy High Commissioner, Bangladesh on January 17, 2018 at 05 :00 PM at GCCI. It was a courtesy meeting as a part of strengthening and facilitating bilateral trade relation between India and Bangladesh.

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed the Deputy High Commissioner and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry. He highlighted that the two countries could strengthen trade relations in various sectors such as Agriculture , Textiles, Power and Energy, Sugar, Shipbuildi ng, Pharmaceuticals , Fertilizers, Brick Manufacturing , Ceramic, Cement, Paper and Plastics, Education, IT & Healthcare . He invited Bangladesh as the "Country Partner" in the GCCI initiative, "Farm 2 Fashion 2018, Indian Texti le Global Summit" on March 23-25, 2018 and requested all the textile 1:.;ompanies of Bangladesh to participate and strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries in the textile sector.

H.E. Md. Lutfor Rahman, Deputy High Commissioner, Bangladesh applauded  the busi ness spirit of Gujarat and mentioned that Bangladesh is keen on increasi ng busi ness tie-ups with India  and Gujarat is their preferred state. He shared the Development Vision 2020 of Bangladesh to become a modernized, technologically advanced and self­ reliant economy and solicited the support of India in achieving this vision.  He highlighted and appreciated the political stability between the two countries. He emphasized the need to exchange high level delegation, conducting trade shows and other trade promotion activities to promote bilateral relation between both the countries.

The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by the President.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized Interactive meetings with the Israel Delegation on January 11-12, 2018 from 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM at GCCI. The Interactive meeting includes six sessions for six different sectors including CSR (Orcam), Fire-Fighting, Port Security, Smart City, Waste Water Treatment and Cyber Security which are divided in two-day program.

 

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed Delegates from Israel and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry. He highlighted that the two countries could further strengthen bilateral trade relations in various sectors such as Agriculture, Defense manufacturing, Security, Science, Technology and Education.

 

The meeting initiated with the session on Orcam MyEye on 11^th Jan, 2018 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Mr. Sam Marshall, CEO & MD, Marshall Integrated Services highlighted the advantages of OrCam MyEye, which is a technology to help blind and visually impaired people to achieve increased independence. Mr. Raymond Soloman, Consultant, Marshall Integrated Services detailed out benefits of the wearable artificial vision device which discreetly reads text, recognizes faces, products, all in real time. Live demonstration of technology was done on blind/visually impaired and they gave positive feedback.

 

Second session was of Fire Fighting from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, in which different technology including fire extinguishing agents, automatic suppression systems, passive fire protection, fire extinguishing systems in a wide variety of industrial plants, hazardous materials storage facilities, infrastructure sites and buildings were presented. Use of powder technology & foam technology along with fire retardants protection coatings & fire protection sealants was also presented in the meeting.

 

Mr. Skornik Tal, Founder, Clear Zone, in his presentation on Port Security explained in detail about comprehensive technology solutions for port security such as anti-piracy, underwater security, cable laying protection, and investigation measures which could enhance the security features of ports.

 

The other three sessions of Smart & Safe cities, Waste Water Treatment and Cyber Security would be held on 12^th Jan 2018 at GCCI between 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

 

 

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized Interactive meetings with the Israel Delegation on January 11-12, 2018 from 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM at GCCI. The Interactive meeting included sessions for six different sectors including CSR (Orcam), Fire-Fighting, Port Security, Smart City, Waste Water Treatment and Cyber Security which were divided in two-day program.

 

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI informed the participants that various sessions on Orcam, Fire Fighting and Port Security were held on 11^th Jan and they were very fruitful to the participants.

 

The meeting initiated with the session of Smart & Safe Cities on 12^th Jan, 2018 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 Noon. Mr. Skornik Tal, Founder, Clear Zone enlightened on importance of having Security Information Systems which are real time and have rapid response systems in order to ensure a safe city. He further highlighted use of Digital Communication and Data Intelligence Center to control & command any unwarranted emergency situation such as explosion, fire, theft, terrorist attack, etc. for safe city.

 

Second session was of Waste Water treatment from 12:00 Noon to 1:30 PM was presented by Mr. Suneet Kaul, Sentro Technology/ AQWISE. Various advanced waste-water treatment technologies such as aerobic and anaerobic solutions, MBBR technologies, bio-film based technologies for treatment of industrial water, municipal water & drinking water were discussed in the meeting.

 

Lastly, Cyber Security session was presented by Mr. Skornik Tal, Founder, Clear Zone, renowned Security expert in Israel. The session covered the dangers posed by various cyber threats such as malware, spyware, trojans, viruses, backdoors, keyloggers, etc. and various measures to overcome these cyber threats through deep net, fishing, information security, social engineering, etc. were discussed.

 

The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks and ensured strengthening of India-Israel bilateral relations in times to come.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized an Interactive Meeting with the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Mumbai on January 09, 20 18 at 02:30 PM at GCCI. An MoU was signed between GCCI and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Mumbai as a part of strengthening and facilitating bilateral trade relation between India and South Korea.

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry. He highlighted that the two countries could strengthen trade relations in various sectors such as Defence Manufacturing, Textiles, IT, Electronics, Automobiles, Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals , Healthcare, Tourism, and Education.

Mr. Soungeun Kim, Consul General, South Korea emphasized the need to exchange high level delegation, conducting trade shows and other trade promotion activities to promote  economies  of both  the countries. He mentioned  that Korean companies are keen on investing in India and Gujarat is their preferred state.

 The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by the President.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized an Interactive Session with Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce Delegation (ICCC) on January 09, 2018 at 04:00 PM at GCCI. MoU was renewed between Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce as a part of strengthening bilateral business relation between India and Canada. The delegates of Canada came from various sectors such as Agriculture and Food Processing, ICT & Advance Manufacturing, Financial Services, Business Immigration, Education and Skill Development.

In his Welcome Address, Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI mentioned that there are various areas of mutual cooperation between India and Canada such as engineering, energy, food processing, agriculture, IT, Pharma,Solar  and various others which can be a win-win situation for the business of both the countries. and mentioned that the total Bilateral trade between India and Canada is around Canadian $ 8 billion.

 Mr. Dhanjal Kanwar - President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce and Leader of the Delegation in India highlighted about ICCC’s India Mission 2018 which focused on Cooperation and collaboration among the SMEs, Bilateral investment opportunities and Invited for Indian companies to visit Canada. He mentioned that both the chambers should start interaction on regular basis. Exchange members profile to boost trade relations.

 The program concluded with interactive session between the business delegates of ICCC and Gujarat and vote of thanks by Dr. Jaimin Vasa, Sr. Vice President, GCCI.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) organized an Interactive Meeting with Turkish-Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (TICCI) on December 20, 20 17 at 03:00PM at GCCI. Mr. Saban Kucukzoroglu, Vice President, Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (TICCI) represented their Chamber. An MoU was signed between GCCI and TICCI as a part of strengthening bilateral trade relations between the two countries.

 

Shri Shailesh Patwari, President, GCCI welcomed them and briefed about the strength of Gujarat in trade and industry.

 

Mr. Saban Kucukzoroglu, Vice President, TICCI highlighted about the activities of TICCI. Mr. Saban also represented the company of Pierre Cardin, a French fashion brand offering around 30 product lines ranging from clothing, leather accessories, bags, suitcases, home furnishings, rugs to perfumes to many more. He mentioned that Pierre Cardin can offer opportunity  to Indian industries to grow their business by entering into a licensing agreement with them. With this licensing arrangement, the Indian companies will be able to utilize the marketing capabilities and brand exposure, and manufacture their product of international quality. Through this interactive meeting, GCCI made an effort to boost the Make In India" campaign, laid by Hon 'ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi .

The Interactive Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by the President.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry had organized an Interactive session with the Russian Delegation to Gujarat, India. The delegation was led by Mr. Aleksandr Beliaev, Director, Department of Foreign Relations, Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tomsk Region. The Delegation revealed interest to discuss the bilateral trade related matters with the purpose to enhance the economy and trade cooperation between Gujarat, India, and Russia’s Tomsk Region. Delegates even endeavored to meet GCCI Members one to one and captured bilateral trade intelligence in the focus sectors such as: Chemicals, Electronics, PVC & Plastic & polymer composites manufacturers, and Glass Manufacturers,Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment Manufacturers & Sellers and Zicron Oxide Ceramics (for plastering purpose) manufacturers, Sewage Treatment, Artificial & Synthetic Fiber (Technical Textile and Textile machine manufacturers), Oil & Gas, Iron & Steel, and Medical Training Education and Industrial Health & Safety.