Stressing on to increase convergence of interest between United States and India on economic, defense and regional issues would lead the dawn of a new era in US-India bilateral ties, said the United States’ ambassador to India Richard Verma on the sidelines of Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2017.
As one of the partner countries for the eighth edition of Vibrant Summit, USA sent the largest non-Indian delegation comprised of Government officials and executives representing over 100 US companies. The official US Government delegation to Vibrant Gujarat was led by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal and US Ambassador to India Richard Verma.
The US business delegation was led by John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems and Chairman of the US-India Business Council, and included a number of other American CEOs who travelled from the United States. This is the second time that the United States has served as a Partner Country for Vibrant Gujarat, a level of par US Government’s commitment to engage through such events with the Government, business community, and people of Gujarat and of India as a whole.
At the US Country Seminar at the event a memorandum of understanding signed between Amazon India and the Government of Gujarat under which tribal entrepreneurs would be educated, trained and enabled to directly sell their products to Amazon customers in India and across the globe.
Consul General Tom Vajda and the entire US business delegation meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to discuss ways to strengthen trade and investment ties between the United States and Gujarat. The US Pavilion, highlighting trade, travel, and study opportunities and attracting thousands of visitors.
During his two-day visit to the region, Ambassador Verma also visited the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in Ahmedabad to learn how SEWA secures livelihoods for rural women in India, Afghanistan, and other countries. Verma expressed appreciation for SEWA’s partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development that takes up the challenge of empowering more than 1,000 war-affected and impoverished widows of Afghanistan by providing them with vocational training for job security. Committed to inclusive growth and women’s rights, SEWA is India’s largest community-based microenterprise organization with more than 2 million microenterprise members spread across 14 Indian states.