India and GCC countries share a special relationship, both in terms of history and breadth of sectors in which we cooperate. The importance of the region is highlighted by the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited almost all GCC countries; the country’s top leadership remains in constant touch with the top leadership of the GCC countries. On the business front, India and GCC nations enjoy a robust relationship with the current trade between India and the GCC countries touching almost $90 billion. The Gulf region also hosts two of the top-five trading partners for India, and GCC accounts for about 34% of our oil imports.
In this regard, the India GCC business conference was organised on the sidelines of the EXPO 2020 Dubai. The conference aimed to attract investments from GCC countries into India and explore business partnerships between women entrepreneurs from India and GCC, among other interest areas.
On this occasion, Harjinder Kaur Talwar, whose company Comvision has designed and is executing one of the prestigious transport solutions in the Gulf region: King Fahd Causeway between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, encouraged women entrepreneurs to prepare harder, have all the answers, and show no vulnerabilities. Comvision’s transport solution is deeply integrated with artificial intelligence-based vehicle classification and also multiple methods of payments.
In her address, Ms Talwar encouraged the women from GCC countries to come forward and make their mark in business. Citing her example, she said that her company has anchored a Made-in-India product that is robust, best in its class, and yet very cost-effective. “I am proud as an Indian woman who has achieved success in a domain which is not considered to be women-centric,” she said.
She added that women should “clearly know what they want, build relationships, connect with thought leaders, be prepared to venture out of their comfort zones, be ruthless, be ambitious and be the best person for the job they are aiming for”.
The conference was attended by leading lights from the business sector from India and GCC countries that included Hind Al You, Director of Investments, UAE; Nasser Alaqil, VP Strategic partnerships and government affairs, National Companies Promotion Programme, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Bader Ali, Regional Director, MENA & Asia investments organisation, Bahrain EDB and Dr Aman Puri, Counsel-General of India, Dubai, who also addressed the gathering, among others.
