Bhubaneswar: The international conference on “Purvodaya Perspectives: Reflections on Regional Connectivity” in Bhubaneswar concluded on Sunday with a call for focus of India’s foreign policy on a comprehensive exploration of bilateral and multilateral ties.
On the concluding day of the two-day conference, eminent participants of various sectors discussed the maritime business, cross-border transportation, and socio-cultural value exchange of eastern India. The proposal and outcomes of the plenary sessions will be accumulated into a volume and submitted to the Central and state governments.
The first plenary session on the day was on “Commerce, Transport & Energy Corridors- Looking at Purvodaya from Outside”. Sashi Shekar Mohanty, Chairman, CII, Odisha State Council; Prof Mahendra P Lama, Centre for South Asian Studies School of International Studies, JNU; Prof Pritam Banerjee, Centre for WTO Studies Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi; K Sreekant, CMD, POWERGRID; Prof Saurav, Centre for South Asian Studies School of International Studies, JNU; Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president, Indo-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IBCCI) and chairman, Nitol-Niloy Group; Badri Prasad Tiwari, Counsellor, Embassy of Nepal and Vivek Singla, president and head of Green Hydrogen Business, ReNew shared their views on the topic.
“Traditional Security Threats & Capacity Building” was the 2nd plenary session of the evening. The guests were Rear Admiral (Retd) Monty Khanna, Rajan Kumar, Associate Professor, SIS, JNU; Commandant PV Gopal, Indian Coast Guard; Cmde. Sujeet Samaddar, Founder SAMDeS; Shin Maywa, Senior Consultant, NITI AAYOG and Satyajit Mohanty, Joint Secretary, Department of Defence.
The 3rd plenary session discussed “Cultural Connectivity & Maritime Heritage” Mugdha Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture; Chandandeep K Grewal, Under Secretary, PP & R, Ministry of External Affairs; Sabyasachi Dutta, Executive Director, Asian Confluence, India East Asia Centre; Prof Kishore Kumar Basa, Chairman, National Monuments Authority and Prof Umakanta Mishra, Ravenshaw University spoke on the traditional commerce of India.
In the 4th and the final plenary session, discussion focused on “Soft Drivers of Connectivity: Technology, Digital Innovation, Finance & Skilling”. Smruti Pattanaik, MP-IDSA; Charudutta Panigrahi, author and policy advisor; Devendra Thakar, CEO, Dhamra Port; Col Samrendra Kumar, Managing Director, MitKat Advisory; Partha Sarathi Panda, Business Technology Consultant; Pritam S Purkayastha, Director, Biju Patnaik National Steel Institute took part in the conference.