‘India Unplugged’ draws NZ, India business leaders

‘India Unplugged’ draws NZ, India business leaders to Auckland

The India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) will host its sixth annual ‘India Unplugged’ international Summit on 14 October at the Pullman Hotel in downtown Auckland.

The one-day Summit will cover wide-ranging issues relating New Zealand-India trade and will hear from a wide range of experts from industry, trade and government.

The summit brings a great opportunity to New Zealand and Indian companies to demonstrate their credentials for increased bilateral trade.

This year’s theme is broad especially since trade between the two countries is at an interesting juncture given steady progress in the multi-lateral Regional Closer Economic Participation (RCEP) Agreement, which both New Zealand and India are part of.

Speakers and panel discussions will explore various nuances around trade policy between India and New Zealand and the cultural contexts to this relationship. These will cover both overviews and specific issues involved in growing trade and investment through FTA and RCEP. Among topics discussed will be:
• Important components of trade policy between New Zealand and India
• Is RCEP enough?
• Do we need some special conditions for India? and
• What is the ‘India Factor’?
Discussions on specific topics discussed will cover case studies on successful commercial strategies on logistics, distribution and marketing such as:
• Overcoming logistics issues
• Customs, Duty & Tax overview
• Distribution strategy for a complex and sprawling country like India
• Marketing strategies for success in India

With India’s Government throwing open a number of sectors for foreign investment, there exists substantial potential in sectors like defence and space technologies and other high-value services.

The impressive speaker line-up includes the Hon Damien O’Connor, New Zealand Minister of Agriculture, Leader of the Opposition Hon Simon Bridges, Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi, Sir Anand Satyanand, Fonterra’s Judith Swales, Auckland Airport’s Scott Tasker and India’s Honorary Consul & industrialist Bhav Dhillon among several others from both New Zealand and India.

A number of New Zealand’s leading corporates and institutions have sponsored this year’s India Unplugged Summit, underscoring the growing importance that New Zealand business and industry are attaching to the New Zealand-India relationship. Among these are Westpac Bank, Mondiale, Jeena, Zespri, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Weltec, Whitireia, Auckland Airport and PWC.

“This year’s Summit will see participation from policy makers, industry stalwarts, government representatives and corporate houses from all over New Zealand,” says INZBC Chair Sameer Handa.

“We expect to have over 350 business leaders attend the Summit this year. The objective of the India Unplugged Summit is to provide a forum to bring together policy and business leaders from New Zealand and India to explore collaboration in different areas and to showcase New Zealand technology and expertise in these sectors,” he added.

The annual INZBC India Unplugged Summit has grown to become an important international business event in New Zealand trade and export circles. Being hosted since 2014, the Summit gets all the stakeholders in the India-New Zealand trade space under one roof. Previous summits have focused on Aviation and Tourism, Education and Technology and Agritech.

The New Zealand-India trade relationship has also grown in profile in both countries recently, following Fonterra’s re-entry into India in partnership with the Future Group, India’s largest retail network, earlier this year.

The thirty-year-old INZBC promotes and encourages trade in goods and services, investment, scientific, technical and economic cooperation between India and New Zealand.

Run by experienced industry leaders who are key stakeholders for international trade development between India and New Zealand, INZBC is a member-based independent organisation and a not-for-profit incorporated society.

It lobbies and informs government on trade-related matters; disseminates information and know-how on doing business between the two countries and facilitates business development on behalf of members through leveraging networks.

With members spanning across various industries, like agriculture, horticulture, dairy, infrastructure, finance, education, tax planning, etc, the members are drawn from New Zealand’s top corporate leadership.

What: India Unplugged, the INZBC’s annual New Zealand-India Business Summit
When: 14 October 2019 | 8.30am – 5:00pm
Where: Pullman Hotel, Auckland
Tickets from: https://www.inzbusinesssummit.com/

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