7th Global Economic Summit

by Shrutee K/DNS

“Global Economic Summit is the most important programme for the times that we are living in. The world has changed and now it is all Global Value Chains, which make the world function. Nobody makes a product in one particular geography alone. Adding value to the supply chain is what is going to be the new mantra of business,” said Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of India in his video message at the 7^th Global Economic Summit on ‘Global Value Chains: Accelerating MSME Growth, Development and Sustainability’ at World Trade Centre Mumbai on February 22, 2018. The Summit is jointly organised by World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI).  

Mr. Prabhu further said, “The choice of the world is whether I should make something in my country.. or I should get it from outside… whether I should make everything in my country… or do something in my country where I am good at… and get others to add to my already created product by doing a value addition. This is what is going to be the global value chain of the world… it has got tremendous opportunities to create jobs. We should be part of the global economy.

Mr. Prabhu emphasized that the global economy is bound to grow because it is a combined human will of 7.5 billion people of the world; that they want to live a better life and they want to do better things, they want to innovate, they want to bring new ideas. All of this will contribute to the GDP of the world… and in that increasing world, we have realized.. why should we do everything ourselves. This was original traditional thinking of the shopfloor manager, thinking whether I should make a product or buy a product.

Mr. Prabhu said, “Today whether I should make the product in my own factory or I should buy it from outside and sell it under my brand name. This choice has now become the choice of the world, whether I should make something in my country… or I should get it from outside.. whether I should make everything in my country…. Or do something in my country where I am good at…. and get others to add to my already created products by doing a value addition. This is what is going to be the Global Value Chain of the World… It has got tremendous opportunities to create jobs. If you can integrate into the value chains….”

“In order to integrate into the value chains, we have to think differently. We have to align our own thinking with the other chains… a chain means that we cannot be thinking in isolation and we have to be a part of the global thinking. We should be part of the global economy. We should be part of the global thought process. And to do that, what is necessary is the change of mindset and economy.” Shri Prabhu added.

Shri Prabhu complimented Mr. Kamal Morarka, Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai, Mr. Vijay Kalantri, President All India Association of Industries and Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, World Trade Centre Mumbai. He said the various research findings of World Trade Centre Mumbai and AIAI are praiseworthy. The inaugural Session of the Summit was attended by around 350 delegates from more than 30 countries, Ambassadors, Consul Generals and other top officials of government, representatives from multilateral agencies, MSMEs, corporate houses, trade promotion organizations and academic institutions. In his theme address, Shri. Laxmi Narayan Gupta, I.A.S, Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department, Government of Odisha informed that Odisha has posted a record 114% growth in exports in 2016-17, the highest growth rate among any state in India. Government of India has recognized Odisha as the ‘Champion State’ for achieving the highest rate of growth in exports. Odisha aims to attract Rs. 2.5 lakh crore of new investment and generate three million jobs by the year 2025. Government of Odisha offers capital subsidy for MSMEs under its MSME Policy 2016 and Food Processing Policy 2016. Odisha government has enrolled 175 start-up enterprises in the last 10 months under its Start-up Odisha Initiative. Shri. Gupta also pointed out that Odisha is the first state in India to launch a synchronized central inspection framework for all industrial establishments called Government of Odisha – Synchronised Mechanism for Inspection of Licensed Enterprises (GO-SMILE). Government of Odisha has launched a single window platform to provide end-to-end online solution for 32 services from 15 government departments.”

Speaking on this occasion, H.E. Prof. Adam Burakowski, Ambassador of Poland in New Delhi expressed optimism about the evolving partnership between Poland and India. H.E. Burakowski said, “India is considered one of the most promising markets and has become the first investment destination for Polish companies in India. I believe that Polish and Indian economies have all resources and qualities to go far beyond existing horizon and to establish a robust trade relationship and a sustainable value chain. Poland offers a wide array of investment incentives and there are 14 Special Economic Zones in the country.”

In her Special Remarks, Dr. Sonia Sethi, I.A.S, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai Zonal Office highlighted some of the policy measures taken by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to promote Global Value Chains in India. Dr. Sethi informed, “Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi has set a target of USD 5 trillion for the size of the Indian economy by 2025. Maharashtra aims to become a USD 1 trillion economy by 2025. Global Value Chains play an important role in achieving this ambitious growth target.”

Dr. Sethi further pointed out, “70% of the world merchandise trade consist of trade in high potential sectors such as electronics, telecom, heavy engineering, among others. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises have a major role to play in trade in these high potential sectors.” Government of India is working out a strategy to upgrade ports and other logistics infrastructure in the country. Government of India has also taken various measures such as introduction of GST, improving ease of doing business, implementing electronics manufacturing policy, among others to promote Global Value Chains in the country.

Dr. Sethi suggested World Trade Centre Mumbai to come out with a white paper at the end of the Summit suggesting actionable areas for government to bring out conducive polices for integrating Indian MSMEs in the Global Value Chains. In his remarks, Mr. Rajeev Kher, Distinguished Fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and former Commerce Secretary, Government of India said, “Government of India does not have a value chain-based policy framework. If we want to encourage domestic value addition, we need to reduce import duty and build institutional mechanism to address technical barriers to trade and negotiate comprehensive free trade agreements. In order to intensify India’s forward linkages in the Global Value Chain, Indian companies must focus on technologies, skills, size and scale.”

Mr. Christian Ewert, Director General, amfori (Foreign Trade Association) said, “We need to promote open trade and fight protectionism which is a major threat to Global Value Chains. In 2016, the WTO counted a total of 1300 protectionist measures in G20 countries versus 900 in 2013.” Speaking on the significance of sustainability in Global Value Chains, Mr. Ewert said, “Global Value Chains are the key enablers of Sustainability. The Indian Government initiative ‘Make in India’ has made sustainability a priority. India is fairly well integrated into GVCs given that 41% of its exports are intermediate goods used in production abroad, Mr. Ewert added.

Dr. S. Venkateswara Sharma, Deputy Director, System Production Area, ISRO Satellite Centre highlighted the key achievements and targets set by the Indian Space Research Organisation to make India a global hub for satellite manufacturing. Dr. Sharma said, “ISRO looks at industry as our partners and the organisation caters to around 455 sectors through its various space and satellite manufacturing programmes. From producing one satellite every four year, ISRO has evolved to produce eight satellites every year. In the near future, we will attain the target of 12-18 satellites every year and in the next five years, ISRO aims to make 75-100 satellites in the country.”

Delivering the welcome address for the inaugural session, Mr. Kamal Morarka, Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai said, “Today, almost all the think tanks in the Western Countries believe that India is a safe place to do business. Stability and predictability are the key features of the Indian economy since it started the process of integrating with the world economy in 1991. India takes pride in it system of transparent administration, robust democracy, freedom of press, functioning legal system.”

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, President, All India Association of Industries (AIAI), Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai and Director, WTCA Board, N.Y. proposed vote of thanks for the inaugural session. Mr. Kalantri pointed out that India has received a record level of foreign direct investment of USD 60 billion in 2017 and Maharashtra has a share of 50%. Currently, Indian economy is growing at 6.0-7.0% today and if this growth has to increase to 8.0-10.0%, MSMEs have a large role to play in this. Therefore, Government of India must support MSMEs in areas of finance, marketing, logistics, infrastructure and so on.”During the inaugural session, distinguished guests released the ‘Global Economic Summit 2018 Handbook’, which is a collection of articles, interviews, case studies and success stories Global Value Chains across the world.

The session also featured felicitation of reputed companies such as Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, Datamatics Global Services Ltd and Crystal Automation Pvt Ltd. for their extraordinary contribution to value chain in their respective sectors.

The three-day Global Economic Summit (February 22-24, 2018) will feature participation of key dignitaries such as Shri. Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India, Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh (Retd.), Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Shri. Prafulla Samal, Hon’ble Minister for Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Women & Child Development & (Mission Shakti), Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of Odisha.