Connecting Global Commerce The Launch of Open Trade

The launch of Open Trade, a magazine jointly conceived and executed by the Trade Commissioners' Forum (TCF) and New Media Communication was a small but significant step towards promoting India's economic relations with various countries. The inaugural issue of the quarterly magazine was unveiled at the World Trade Centre on June 23, jointly by Joseph Koch, Director, Swiss Business Hub & TCF's Past President and T.C. Venkat Subramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, Export-Import Bank of India. The occasion offered an interactive session between TCF members and the top brass of the Exim Bank. In his welcome address, Exim Bank CMD T. C. Venkat Subramanian highlighted India's progress in the last 15 years and the investment opportunities that the country offered.

 

Exim Bank CMD T.C. Venkat Subramanian browsing through Open Trade soon after the magazine's launch, flanked by Joseph Koch, Director, Swiss Business Hub & Past President TCF and New Media Managing Editor Satya Swaroop

 

For Joseph Koch, Director of Swiss Business Hub, India is like a second home. During his earlier stint with the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi in the 1980s he watched a stagnant India, where the rule of a 'Licence Raj' prevailed. And now, placed in Mumbai, India's vibrant commercial capital, Koch is witness to the wonderful metamorphosis of the country turning into an economic powerhouse. In an address delivered at the launch of the Open Trade magazine, Koch talks about the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s by the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, who is Prime Minister today. Improving bilateral trade has always been Koch's passion. To achieve this end, he has always been finding ways and means and he has the knack of discovering many. Koch is the spirit behind Open Trade, believing sincerely that such a magazine, besides highlighting TCF's own concerns, will in its own way contribute to the promotion of India's bilateral trade. In the absence of TCF's current President Vittorio Mecozzi, Italian Trade Commissioner, Koch, Past President of the Forum, presented a short history and objectives of the Trade Commissioners Forum, based in Mumbai and the launch of Open Trade. Excerpts.

 

It is a really special moment today for us Trade Commissioners. Not only just the idea of having our own magazine sounded some years ago as a project in the air - but with the support of New Media Communications we have come very far and have launched the first edition of OPEN TRADE.
Please let me first give you a short glance of the Trade Commissioners Forum and Its uniqueness. As in many other cities and economic centres in this world, diplomats of the various embassies and consulates are in charge of trade promotions and secure the link between local trade and the countries they represent. So, this was also the case here in Mumbai until In 2001, when this group was founded. In those days it was Doug Paterson from Canada who assembled Trade Commissioners from Australia, Western Australia, China, Flanders, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and USA - all five continents represented.
Needless to say, that this Forum is unique in the world. Never did I hear in my career of over 30 years of an existence of such a group, of such an organization. Out intention is to bring the products of our countries to India, The question is simply how? And where do we source the information. And this is the job of our committee. We are approached by members of the Forum of certain problems their countrymen are facing and we take the matter up and - as it is in most case; there is not just one country involved: Therefore, we call on guest speakers and have interactive sessions with decision makers in the government. But, we are just sitting idle behind our desks. We are traveling in the South of India, where most of our colleagues have their consular jurisdiction. We meet Chambers of Commerce, Trade Bodies and companies. We have to smell the soil, we have to visualize the potential of certain areas, we have to meet local people and get their opinions because, all of us are generally the first point of contact, the first source of information for business people from our respective countries who have plans to come to India, of course, we are in many ways also competing against each other but all this is in a friendly way, because we are sourcing business opportunities, forwarding them to our headquarters and let them work out the criteria requested. Having sat many times on the dais, I know that not only in Switzerland is chocolate produced, not only in Poland is heavy machinery produced, not only in Italy do they have fashion designers... Just to mention sport activities - as today three friends of the TCF are watching football games in group G: France, South Korea and Switzerland. We are sitting together today and tomorrow as well...
Please give me also a few minutes to talk about India our country of residence. Having served with the Swiss embassy in Delhi from 1980 to 1984, I think I have the chance to compare the situation in the 1980s and 2006. And if we look even further back, the time of partition, I must congratulate you Indians on the way you have been able to manage your economy, breaking out of a long spell of stagnation. Earlier, the bureaucrats had the say. You needed for every product a licence. I remember very clearly that during the 80s, there were two cars available and the waiting list running up to five years. You had the rigid rules of foreign exchange when houses were raided because they were hoping to find some dollar notes or foreign liquor. But... you have developed into a prosperous nation since 1993 when the actual Prime Minister took over the finance portfolio and opened up India to globalization as a respectable business partner. The first sign of the smart looking IT specialists draw the attention around the world of India's existence and now India has the largest business potential in the world. Just to mention Bharat Forge, which is providing 35 percent of the world's car market with gear boxes etc.
Koch thanked Exim Bank and New Media for providing an opportunity to Trade Commissioners to participate in the interaction session and to make their presentations.

 

Satya Swaroop presenting a gift-wrapped copy of the Open Trade magazine to Koch. Venkat Subramanian looks on

		Koch being interviewed by TV news channel

A view of the TCF members at the interactive session. In the foreground are (left to right) Ajit Mangrulkar (Australia), Annie Dube (Canada) and Western Australia's Simon Johnson

Audience’s view

KALIM R. GALIEV (Russian Federation)
ANNIE DUBE (Canada)
HELEN DEAS (United Kingdom)
THAILESH KUMAR CHAMANE (Mauritius)
SIMON JOHNSON (Western Australia)
AJIT MANGRULKAR (Australia)
M. GANDHI (UBM India)
MICHAEL DUCK (CMP Asia)