Please join us for the third online forum in our International Dialogue Series, with Ananta Aspen Centre India and the Aspen Institute New Zealand, focussing on AgriTech cooperation opportunities between India and New Zealand.
With nearly 10% of the world's population facing hunger, improving the efficiency of food production and distribution is essential, and holds the potential to significantly reduce, even eliminate, global hunger. We are pleased to announce our upcoming forum with our partner, Ananta Aspen Centre, focusing on the collaboration between New Zealand and India to address this critical issue.
This forum will explore how New Zealand's expertise in farming, agriculture, and Agritech can support India's "Make in India" campaign and revolutionise its food supply chain. The aim is to build long-term relationships between New Zealand and India, leveraging advanced technologies and sustainable practices to produce and distribute securely, high-quality food at scale.
Join us as we explore the future of food security and international collaboration. We look forward to your engagement.
SUSTAINABLE FOOD FUTURES
INDIA & NEW ZEALAND COOPERATION
July 30th , 2024
6:45 pm to 8:00 pm NZT
(12:15 pm to 1:30 pm IST)
Zoom Virtual Event
Registration is complimentary, and we encourage you to share the details of this forum with your network.
Opening Remarks from H.E. Ms. Neeta Bhushan, High Commissioner of India to New Zealand.
Ms. Neeta Bhushan joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1994. As a career diplomat, she has served in several countries including Japan, Bangladesh, Germany, UAE and U.S.. Ms. Bhushan was Additional Secretary (Central Europe) before taking over as High Commissioner of New Zealand in September 2022. She is also accredited to Niue, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa as a High Commissioner. She has studied at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, and she has done Economics (Honours) from Hindu College, Delhi University. She also has an M.Phil. Degree from Madras University, as well as spending time at the National Defence College as Faculty from the Foreign Service. Her Research Thesis was on “WTO: Glorious Past, Turbulent Present and Uncertain Future”.
Panellists
Geoff Allott (BCM) - Executive Director, QualityNZ®
With extensive experience in banking, finance, and marketing, Geoff is the Executive Director and a founding shareholder of QualityNZ®, a business that focuses on the burgeoning Indian market. As a former New Zealand cricketer, Geoff experienced first-hand the opportunities that existed for high quality products in India. He set out 11 years ago, with some key shareholders and an entrepreneurial spirit, to build a unique business model including a full supply chain solution to over 43 cities in India, an in-market processing centre that produces value-add products from imported ingredients, and a strategic marketing solution involving high profile cricketing identities (ambassadors/shareholders of QualityNZ). The QualityNZ Group has interests in Food & Beverage, Manufacturing, Education & Recruitment, and they soon plan to expand into the Travel industry to leverage their industry connections and networks within India and New Zealand.
Geoff has a Bachelor of 'Commerce & Management' degree, majoring in 'Business and Marketing' from Lincoln University (NZ), and has 20 years of ‘board governance’ experience, including 8 years as a Director of New Zealand Cricket, where he sat on the 'Commercial, Finance & Risk' Committee, the 'Women & Cricket' Steering group, and was Chair of the High-Performance advisory group. He was made a ‘Life-member’ of New Zealand cricket in 2022, and he is a current member of the NZ Institute of Directors.
Amit Gupta - Group CEO & Founder, Ecosystm Group; Chairman, TiE Global
Founder of Ecosytm, a next generation Technology Research and Advisory Platform, and its spinoff Kampd, a professional communities-led social learning platform, Amit is a New Zealander and stays deeply connected to the NZ ecosystem. He holds a Master's in Engineering Management with honors from the University of Auckland and has served as a Beachhead Advisor to the New Zealand Government through NZTE. Earlier in his career he was the Managing Director for IDC New Zealand, and prior to that he founded a successful New Zealand based startup which was acquired after a few years.
Mr. Pramit Pal Chaudhuri - India Practice Head, Eurasia Group
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri is the India practice head for Eurasia Group, fellow at the Ananta Aspen Centre and former Foreign Editor of the Hindustan Times. He wrote about international politics and economic issues for the Telegraph and the Statesman newspapers in Calcutta from 1985 to 2000 before joining the Hindustan Times for 20 years. As a member of the Aspen Strategy Group of India for over a decade, he is a delegate for a number of track two strategic and climate dialogues including those with the United States, China, Israel, Turkey, South Korea, Britain and a US-India- Japan trilateral. Mr. Chaudhuri served two terms on the National Security Advisory Board to the Prime Minister of India from 2011 to 2015. He was a member of its task forces on maritime security, neighbourhood policy and China among others. He is an advisor to the Council for Energy Environment and Water and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and is editor of a forthcoming magazine on geopolitics and technology for the USISPF chamber of commerce. He has a number of affiliations including the Mont Pelerin Society, Aspen Institute Italia, Asia Society Global Council, New York, and Institute for International and Strategic Studies, London. He is a graduate of Cornell University and has lived and travelled in over 50 countries.
Dr Bhagirath Choudhary - Ex Board Member (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry & Director (Independent), AFC India Ltd , Founder & Director of SOUTH ASIA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTRE (SABC)
Dr Bhagirath Choudhary is founder & director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC), a DSIR recognised Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO) based at Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He has been associated as a board member of the Agricultural & Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA), and also serving as board member of AFC India Ltd, Mumbai. He has dedicated his two decades of professional agriculture career working with smallholder growers and has contributed enormously to the transfer of bio-innovations from the lab to the land for the growth prospects for the bioeconomy of India. In the past, he was associated with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) & International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications of Cornell University, USA and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).