Indian Minister in charge of small business to speak at Horasis Asia Meeting

Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, will speak at the upcoming Horasis Asia Meeting on November 30. 

The all-virtual summit will convene government leaders and captains of business from the region as well as the rest of the world to discuss a path forward for Asia after COVID-19. 

Minister Gadkari will headline a plenary session about rebooting India’s economy. 

India’s was one of the worst affected economies during the height of the lockdowns, with its economic output shrinking 24 percent in the second quarter of the fiscal year – “the worst contraction since records began,” reported The Washington Post. 

However, the country has seen a steady decline in new daily cases of the coronavirus, falling from 90,000 per day in September to around 30,000 per day in November, and Barclays released a statement yesterday projecting that India’s economy would “return to normal” faster than expected, according to Reuters. 

Dozens of Indian business leaders will also attend the one-day virtual summit including Harsh Pati Singhania, Vice Chairman, JK Paper; President, President AIMA; Asif Iqbal, President, Indian Economic Trade Organization (IETO), India; Nasser Munjee, Chairman, Development Credit Bank, India, and others. They will meet with their counterparts from other Asian countries including China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan to discuss innovative solutions to pressing issues, including pulling the region out of its first regional recession in 60 years. 

The leaders will also use the Horasis platform to explore and foster cooperation, as well as promote investment and sustainable growth across Asia.

“Horasis realizes that in these extraordinary times, embracing multilateralism is paramount to solving the most imminent global challenges,” said Frank-Jürgen Richter, Chairman of Horasis. “For that reason, in spite of significant global disruption this year, we’re pressing on with the Horasis Asia Meeting. Our aim is to gather the region’s key political and business leaders so we can help formulate actionable, collaborative plans to tackle the most pressing challenges.”

Launched in 2016, the annual Horasis Asia Meeting is one of the world’s preeminent discussion forums for fostering cooperation in the region. Horasis, a global visions community, holds a host of country-specific meetings, as well as its flagship Horasis Global Meeting in Cascais, Portugal, in which heads of state, ministers and captains of business from around the globe convene. 

Due to COVID-19 related restrictions the summit has moved online in partnership with Run The World, a leading online events platform. In October, the organization’s first Horasis Extraordinary Meeting, was attended by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres; several heads of state and English billionaire Richard Branson. 

Among the notable delegates at the Horasis Asia Meeting on November 30 are: 

• Fabrizio Hochschild, Under-Secretary General, Special Adviser on Preparations for the 75th United Nations Anniversary
• Ramon Lopez, Secretary of Trade and Industry, The Philippines
• Shahriar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
• Johnny G. Plate, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Indonesia
• Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR
• Joji Tagawa, Chief Sustainability Officer, Nissan Motor, Japan
• Hank McKinnell, Chairman, Moody’s, USA
• Harry Hui, Founder and Managing Partner, ClearVue Partners, China
• Binod K. Chaudhary, Chairman, Chaudhary Group, Nepal

The Horasis Asia Meeting 2020 will be held on November 30 from 07:30 – 20:00 Singapore Time. People interested in attending the meeting and listening in on the sessions can visit: www.runtheworld.today/app/c/HorasisAsiaMeeting.