New body to promote India-Kansas City trade
Thursday, 01 February 2007, 18:30 IST
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New York: A group of Indian American businessmen and professionals have started a new body to promote business between India and Kansas City, Missouri. The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Kansas City (IACCKC) was launched last weekend at a function attended by about 30 businessmen and professionals. "We want to make India the most important and largest single trading partner with Kansas City," IACCKC chairperson and managing director Raj Bhatia told the Kansas City Business Journal. "That means students coming to our universities here, and venture capitalists and entrepreneurs coming here." Ten other cities in the U.S. have Indo-American chambers. While Bhatia is an account manager and senior software engineer for Systelligent, an IT consulting and outsourcing company, Sanjay Johli, the president, is an IT consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the US, India, Britain and Saudi Arabia, the Journal report said. According to an IACCKC statement, there is wide support for the initiative. The focus on India as an outsourcing destination as well as the US foreign policy towards India in matters of nuclear non-proliferation treaty has increased the general awareness in India's potential as a business partner, the statement stated. The founders believe that the current climate made the times "just right" for launching the chamber. Kansas City straddles the boundaries of the midwestern US states of Kansas and Missouri. According to 2005 estimates, the city has a population of around 445,000, making it the 40th most populous city in the US. Asians, including Indian Americans, comprise less than two percent of the total population. According to the press release, IACCKC would hold its first event, a conference on 'Doing Business With India', April 10 at the Kaufmann Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City.
Source: IANS
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