GCCI hosted H.E Pooja Kapur, Ambassador of India to Denmark at the Chamber on 25th MAY’22.
She was welcomed by Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, member, GCCI Managing Committee who said that GCCI would love to build synergies between Goa and Denmark.
GCCI Vice President, Shrinivas Dempo, who chaired the meeting, said that the Chamber was extremely happy to have had the opportunity host her. Stating that GCCI was one of the oldest Chambers in the country, he said that the previous Presidents of the Chamber have not only contributed to industry and trade but also in promoting the culture of the state. Giving H. E Pooja Kapur an overview of the state, he said that till 2012, mining used to play a big role in providing employment in the rural and hinterland areas while tourism in Goa was prevalent in the coastal belt and supported livelihoods. With Mining shut, focus had increased on tourism. In tourism, Goa had the potential to do much more. The question was how could we promote sustainable tourism as well as other economic activity. He wondered if Goa could replicate the Scandinavian model of economic activity. Dempo said that since Denmark had expertise in the sustainable model of industry, could we explore the possibility of using the speed of the rivers to generate power.
Dempo wanted to know how Goa could learn from countries like Denmark in administrative reforms, sustainability reforms, EODB. He said that Goa has a huge ship building industry. Scandinavian countries he said needed hybrid vehicles for transport. Whether Goa could look at partnering with Denmark for this. He told the Ambassador that he needed her advice to connect with the right companies and to connect with the local Danish municipalities for city partnerships. Food processing was another area Goa was interested in promoting.
H E Kapur said that Denmark is a sea facing nation with a population of 5.5 million people. It welcomes 16 million tourists a year. She opined that Coastline, Culture & Cuisine are the three main factors considered in a successful tourist hub. Denmark does not have presence in these but still attracts tourists based on innovations in these areas. Goa has these three strongholds & needs to work on the same.
Denmark is one of the richest countries in the world and is a huge welfare state. Denmark likes to see itself as a green super power. Copenhagen is in the top two cities of the world in terms of work-life balance.
Government of India is partnering with Denmark on a number of green initiatives – Swach Bharat, Ujwala, Digital India, Jal Shakti, Sustainable Urbanisation and also on Green Hydrogen. She said that Denmark prides itself on being green – and everything is conceived and done as sustainable. Earlier, Denmark had helped India in the ‘White Revolution’.
Denmark is setting up a Centre of Excellence at Himachal Pradesh for the animal husbandry sector .Invest Denmark has an office in Bangalore which helps Indian companies invest in Denmark.
India has also signed an MOU with Denmark on Skill Development.
The meeting was also attended by Pratima Dhond, Nitin Kunkolienker, Vincent Ramos, Dr Jennifer Kamat, Milind Prabhu, Sanjay Amonkar and Pallavi H Arondekar.
