India’s Chicago envoy meets Indian-Americans, officials, auto industry representatives

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Indian’s Consul General in Chicago Amit Kumar visited Detroit on August 19-20, 2021, where he held meetings with the Indian-American community, elected officials and automotive industry representatives.

At events organized by The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and India league of America, Consul General briefed the gathering on the India-US partnership, activities of the Consulate, diaspora engagement, etc. and addressed their queries on various issues. The CG also met representatives of Miindia, an organization representing Michigan residents of Indian origin, a press release from the Indian Consulate said.

He also met media representatives such as Deputy Editor of Detroit Free Press Peter Bhatia, and interacted with the members of American Society of Engineers of Indian origin, met   Katherine Kasdorf, associate curator at the Detroit Institute of Art which houses an impressive Indian Art collection.

The Consul General also met Ravi Pendse, vice president at the University of Michigan to discuss higher education cooperation.

On the economic and commercial front, the press release said Consul General Kumar had fruitful discussions with the Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Lindsay Kirchinger, chief of protocol of Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), as well as Chief Operating Officer Pawan Mazumdar at the Automation Alley.

Mayor Duggan expressed his appreciation for the contribution of the Indian community in Detroit and offered support to initiatives to enhance engagement with Indian companies and businesses.

Discussions with MEDC covered expansion of trade and investment links with a focus on sectors such as advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles, defence and aerospace industry.

Discussions with Automation Alley covered exploring greater institutional cooperation on Industry 4.0 and emerging technologies for small and medium sized enterprises and leveraging them for advancing development, prosperity and  equity, the press release said.

Automation Alley is a World Economic Forum Advanced Manufacturing Hub and non-profit Industry 4.0 knowledge center in Michigan. It has taken many delegations to India in the past including one virtual one in April 2021, and plans are afoot to take another delegation to India next year, the Consulate press release said.

Michigan is an important partner State in the U.S. Midwest region that the Indian Consulate covers. It has bilateral trade with India of over US$ 2.5 billion annually. The visit of Consul General to Detroit was part of the Consulate’s regular engagement with different set of stakeholders in the region to advance and deepen India-US partnership, the Consulate said.