Interactive Business meeting with a visiting Myanmar delegation, 18th January 2024, The Bengal Chamber Premises
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized an Interactive Business meeting with a visiting Myanmar delegation in India on 18th January 2024, Thursday ; 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the ITC Room, 1st Floor, The Bengal Chamber Premises.
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Context of the business delegation meeting: The Bengal Chamber shared a deep connect with Myanmar. The Chamber took a business delegation to Myanmar from 16th May to 20th May 2016, visiting Yangon; Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay. The focus of the Delegation was B2B and B2G. The delegation was led by the then President Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta. The Delegation comprised of industry representatives from West Bengal and Odisha. The delegation met His Excellency U Ohn Maung, the then Hon’ble Minister of Hotels and Tourism, The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, His Excellency Dr. Than Myint, Union Minister, Ministry of Commerce, His Excellency U Khin Maung Cho, Union Minister, Ministry of Industry and Professor Thet Khaing Win, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health notably among others. The Chamber would be delighted to work more closely with Chambers of Commerce and Ministries in Myanmar to facilitate business between West Bengal and Myanmar. The Chamber, through its connections in the neighbouring States and Countries, may also facilitate enhanced bilateral and multilateral business. |
The meeting was attended by delegation from Myanmar to India accompanied by representative from Ministry of External Affairs (Branch Secretariat, Kolkata) and relevant senior members, stakeholders and executives of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry in order to explore concrete avenues for strengthening business and trade relations with Myanmar on the represented sectors.
Attendees of the meeting:
- Members form Myanmar
- Dr. Charlie Than, Union Minister, Ministry of Industry, Government of Myanmar
- Dr. Aung Khine, Managing Director, Myanmar Pharmaceutical Industrial Enterprise, Ministry of Industry
- Mr. Tun Tun Kyaw, Superintendent, No. (1) Steel Mill (Myingyan), No. (1) Heavy Industrial Enterprise, Ministry of Industry
- Dr. Sai Myo Thurein, Lecturer, University of Pharmacy (Mandalay), Ministry of Health
- Mr. Kyaw Lin, Managing Director, Myanmar Economic Corporation
- Mr. Tint Aung, Senior Consultant from Myanmar Economic Corporation
- Mr. Ravi Ranjan Pandit, Administrative Officer, Ministry of External Affairs (Branch Secretariat, Kolkata)
- Relevant senior members, stakeholders and executives of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry:
- Mr. Gautam Ray, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry & President - Corporate, RPSG Group
- Mr. Abhijit Sen, Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Mr. Aniruddha Lahiri, Chairman, Trishul Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Ardhendu Mandal, Consultant, Techno Electric and Engineering Company Limited
- Mr. Arnab Ganguly, Associate Director, Head, CUTS Calcutta Resource Center, CUTS International
- Mr. Arup Bandhu Guha, Vice President, Samsara Group
- Mr. Debashis Dutta, Director, BG Somadder& Sons Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Debasish Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, Kolkata Biotech Park
- Mr. Dibya Sankar Das, Managing Partner, Dellstar Overseas
- Mr. Indrajit Sen, Managing Director, International Combustion (India) Limited
- Mr. Joydeep Mitra, CEO, KPC Medical College & Hospital
- Mr. K Sunil Kumar, GM- PR, JIS Group
- Mr. M C Banerjee, Director, Everett (India) Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Mayank Jain, Senior Manager, International Business, NTPC Limited
- Mr. Nikhil Jaiswal, General Manager- East, Green Base Industrial & Logistics Park, Nidar Group Of Companies
- Mr. Rajeev Gupta, Chief Executive, Inter Global Education Services
- Mr. Rajiv Mondal, CEO, Arogyam Medisoft Solution Pvt. Ltd.
- Ms. Sandhya Kaushik, Chief-Business Services, JIMSH
- Mr. Santanu Saha, Deputy Manager, International Business, Manipal Hospitals –Kolkata
- Mr. Saptarshi Chatterjee, Associate Director, Incubation, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Chief-Coordinator & Principal Project Investigator, BIRAC E-YUVA CENTER, Adamas University
- Mr. Saumik Dasgupta, HOD International Division, Narayana Health Howrah
- Mr. Seemanta Kumar Das, Asst. General Manager(Retail Marketing), Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. (A Govt. of India Enterprise)
- Dr. Shiladitya Chatterjee, Former Member Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Adviser, Centre for Sustainable Development Goals, Government of Assam
- Mr. Shyam Sundar Dey, General Manager - Growth & Development, AMRI Hospital
- Mr. Siddhartha Sanyal, Chief Economist and Head- Research, Bandhan Bank Ltd.
- Mr. Subhasish Datta, Chief General Manager Operations, Ruby General Hospital and Ruby Cancer Centre
- Ms. Tanusree Jasu, Branch Manager, Samsara Group
- Mr. Tapas Banerjee, Managing Director, Everett (India) Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Tuhin Nag, Director, Everett (India) Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Udoy Sekhar Ghosh, Managing Director, Marinecraft Engineers Pvt Ltd
- Ms. Angana Guha Roy Chowdhury, Assistant Director General, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
The tone of the meeting with delegation was set by Mr. Dutta, the brief notion of which is appended below:
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According to Mr. DebashisDutta, “In coming years, the overall relationship between India and Myanmar will continue to grow and has the potential to assume greater prominence. The prospects for bilateral relationship are recognized in both countries as strategically useful, economically productive and aligned with each other’s new agenda. India is looking forward to better protection of borders, long-term involvement with key projects, diversity in investments and a non-condescending approach to its neighbor.” |
Mr. Ravi Ranjan Pandit, Administrative Officer, Ministry of External Affairs (Branch Secretariat, Kolkata) rightly identified some potential synergies between India and Myanmar which could be explored in the coming years as both nations are emerging strong in the following sectors:
- Tourism
- Trade and Industry
- P2P
Some important identification of probable areas of collaboration among India and Myanmar by Dr. Charlie Than, Union Minister, Ministry of Industry, Government of Myanmar is given below:
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There is a growth of investments in the MSME sectors of Myanmar over the years. Following which industrial training institutions and industrial parks are being opened in order to engage the large available workforce. Factories are being privatized to invite international investments in the nation. The future prospects those are closer than it seems such as- technology transfer, knowledge sharing, trade facilitation, market linkage as necessary infrastructure and policy level support would be provided by the Government of Myanmar for ease of doing business. |
According to Dr. Khine, pharmaceutical industry in Myanmar such as, HIV, Oncology etc., are experiencing maximum development compared to last decade both in terms of research and production. In order to scale up and make prominence in the international market Myanmar is welcoming investments in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Sai Myo Thurein, Lecturer, University of Pharmacy (Mandalay) apprised the representatives from academia that Ministry of Health, Government of Myanmar is open to collaborate with pharmaceutical research institutes in the neighboring countires.
Mr. Tuhin Nag, Director, Everett (India) Pvt. Ltd. rightly mentioned during the interactive session with the delegation that reinstallation of the steel plants in Myanmar and commissioning the factories in Myanmar may in turn increase the return on investment and cap the drainage of forex.
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Mr. Mayank Jain, Senior Manager, International Business, NTPC Limited informed the hon’ble Union Minister and other dignitaries of the meeting that, NTPC shall be interested in conducting small scale programmes in order to contribute to development in the EV ecosystem in Myanmar. Subsequently, NTPC is also preparing solarization report for many ISA countries, hence, owing to that Myamnar could also experience the same and therefore planning the utility of solar power given the data procured from the report. According to Mr. Jain, this if implemented properly could also accelerate innovation in the power generation sector, therefore making way for participation in Industry 5.0. |
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Mr. Saumik Dasgupta, HOD International Division, Narayana Health Howrah and Mr. Santanu Saha, Deputy Manager, International Business, Manipal Hospitals –Kolkata have pointed out that there is no production of Oncology, Pediatric and HIV medications in Myanmar. Hence both of esteemed attendees requested to facilitate a visit to Myanmar for exploring possible avenues of business in order to address the production issue of the said medicines and help to mitigate. |
The interactive session was filled with queries and dialogues among the Indian and Myanmar stakeholders marking a very engaging and fruitful session for the delegation from Myanmar accompanied by the Ministry of External Affairs (Branch Secretariat, Kolkata). Mr. Pandit suggested that further queries maybe addressed to Consulate General of Myanmar in Kolkata or Embassy of India in Yangon. This was a very well knitted interaction with foreign delegation with industry specific members from manufacturing, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. The Union Minister of Myanmar delightfully invited all attendees and respective organizations to do business in Myanmar as it is gradually taking shape of a favorable location for trading.
EVENT GALLERY