New Delhi: Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) has been redefining the paradigm of engagement for businesses with external stakeholders, from Government to Media to Civil Society and Academia for the last 11 years. The theme for PAFI’s 7th National Forum 2020 is “Building Trust, Charting Growth” which will be held on 22nd and 23rd October 2020. The two-day (virtual) conference will witness participation by over 60 speakers ranging from Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers from Centre and State, Global CEOs, Think Tanks, Members of Parliament, Industry Leaders, Economists, Senior Editors & Policy Makers.
Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India and Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog are some of eminent experts speaking at the forum. There will be a special session with B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka; Jagadish Shettar, Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Govt of Karnataka as Karnataka will join the forum as the Partner State. Further, a fireside -chat session with Capt. Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab also scheduled on day 2 of the conference.
Ishteyaque Amjad, President PAFI and Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications & sustainability at Coca-Cola India and South West Asia said, “Given the current pandemic situation across the world, it would be important for the various stakeholders including government, industry and society, to engage and work collectively towards building an atmosphere of trust that will help achieve the goal of inclusive growth. In line with this objective, PAFI’s 7th Annual Forum aims to brainstorm, discuss and build meaningful linkages to chart growth in important sectors, thereby moving the economy in the right direction.”
Ajay Khanna, Forum Chairman & Co-Founder, PAFI & Chief Strategic & Public Affairs, Jubilant Bhartia Group said, “Focus on trust has become far more evident since the outbreak of the pandemic as deliberations and transactions have gone digital. This year PAFI’s Annual Forum will emphasize on strategies that industry needs to adopt for an effective public affairs practice and drive government-industry partnerships to build a strong policy eco-system.”
Other important experts speaking at the forum include: Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; K T Rama Rao, Cabinet Minister for IT E&C, MA&UD and Industries & Commerce Departments, Government of Telangana; Sidharth Nath Singh, Cabinet Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Investment & Export, NRI, Sericulture, Textile & Handloom, Khadi & Gramodyog, Government of Uttar Pradesh; Saurabhbhai Patel, Energy Minister, Government of Gujarat and Subhash Desai, Minister of Industries, Mining and Marathi Language, Government of Maharashtra; Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament-Congress, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology; Dinesh Trivedi, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, TMC; Priyanka Vickram Chaturvedi, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha & Deputy Leader, Shiv Sena; Swapan Dasgupta, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, BJP; Sushmita Dev, Former Member of Parliament and President, All India Mahila Congress; Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Former Member of Parliament, BJD along with global experts like Brende Borge, President, World Economic Forum; Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer, WPP, London; Mark Weil, Chief Executive Officer, TMF-Group, London; Dr Taimur Baig, Managing Director & Chief Economist, DBS Bank, Singapore; Martin Wolf, Associate Editor & Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times; Brad Staples, Chief Executive Officer, APCO worldwide, UK; John Chambers, Co-Founder & CEO JC2 Ventures and healthcare experts like Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS; Sangita Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospital and President, FICCI; Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta. The industry experts like Uday Kotak, President, CII and Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI; Nisha Biswal, President, USIBC & Senior Vice President, South Asia US Chamber of Commerce; Dr Mukesh Aghi, President & CEO, USISPF; Dr Shubhashis Gangopadhyay; Research Director, IDF and Dean, Indian School of Public Policy; Shobana Kamineni; Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals and Past President, CII; Dr Omkar Goswami, Founder & Chairman, CERG Advisory Private Limited; Javed Sayed, Associate Executive Editor, The Economic Times also participate at the forum.
The conference sessions will be moderated by industry experts like Pranjal Sharma, Economic Analyst, Advisor and Author; Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Head of Public Policy, Sequoia Capital India & South East Asia and Samir Saran, President, ORF and other senior media experts.
The forum will discuss and debates on topics like Emerging economic challenges and the impact of the ongoing pandemic COVID-19; Building trust by deepening stakeholder engagement; Invested in India; the perceived diminishing role of multilateralism in global trade and international affairs; Issues related to global supply chains; Geopolitics; Issues for emerging technologies; Reputation, Risk & Crisis management.