“This is the perfect time to strengthen India’s partnership with the City of Houston, which is the Energy Capital of the World and which has the world’s largest healthcare centre,” saidSylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, State of Texas, USA at an Interactive meeting organised by MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) recently
Noting that his visit was to develop a win-win partnership with the India, the Mayor said Houston is the most diverse and inclusive city in America with around 25 per cent population of foreign origin including 82,000 Indians.
“I could not have become a mayor without the strong support of the Indian community in Houston. There is tremendous scope for developing cultural and student exchange programmes, and Houston has world class science and technology institutions, including NASA Space Center. There exist diverse areas to build synergies between both the countries,” he added.
The Houston Mayor had led a high-level business delegation of around 40 members representing a diverse range of sectors such as hospitality, space research, aviation, healthcare, legal consultancy, education, transportation and infrastructure, retail, engineering and construction, technology start-ups ports;
Describing Houston as a world-renowned Port City with excellent cargo handling infrastructure, Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai and President, All India Association of Industries said, said that the Government of Maharashtra is also laying emphasis on building world-class infrastructure.
“Mumbai is the economic and commercial capital of India, and there is tremendous potential for India to collaborate with Houston in ports, logistics, infrastructure, energy, healthcare and other sectors. Today, bilateral trade between Houston and India stands at US$ 4.9 billion and which is expected to grow three-fold in the next five years,” he said.
Highlighting the role of World Trade Centre Mumbai in promoting India-America relations, Kalantri said, “MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai works with more than 40 World Trade Centers across USA. We have signed MoUs with the Governors of Utah, Kentucky and Texas in the past. Now, we would like to work closely with Houston to promote bilateral relationship.”
The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU), one each with MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI). The event was attended by over 300 representatives from trade and industry, government officials, consular corps, chambers of commerce, think tanks and academic institutions and also had B2B Meetings.
