[ ]6 April 15, 2009

News from Belfast

News from Birmingham

ICAEW hosts panelon globalisation

News from Edinburgh

The Institute of CharteredAccountants in England and Wales

(ICAEW) on March 27 organised agathering at Bingley Hall inBirmingham to discuss the challengesof globalisation. It was attended by theDeputy Lord Mayor, the Leader of theBirmingham City Council, andConsul-General Mrs. J.D. Pavel.

At the discussion, the delegates alsounderscored the need for Air India toresume its Birmingham-India opera-tions. The President of theBirmingham & West Midlands Societyof Chartered Accountants, AndeepMangal, urged Air India to reconsiderits decision in view of the businessopportunities of West Midlands and thelarge Indian presence in the region.

A member of the Global AccountingAlliance, ICAEW is based in more than160 countries and is also developing itspresence in some of the world’s emerg-ing economies.

Bolton Council’sIndian Trade Mission

The Bolton Council recently led aNorth West Trade Mission to des-

tinations and markets in India. The rep-resentatives made useful contacts withpotential investors and established net-working with businesses. BusinessBolton in collaboration with UK Tradeand Investment (UKTI) and UK IndiaBusiness Council (UKIBC) developedboth group and tailored itineraries forthe Bolton businesses to explore trad-ing and investment relationships withIndian businesses across India andincluded visits to cities such as Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodaraand Surat. Meetings were also held withsenior executives of Kingfisher Airlines,Yes Bank Corporation, and the Suratand Gujarat Chamber of Commerceand Industries. Useful contacts werealso made with noted actors and direc-tors of Bollywood to attract Bolton andthe North West region as locations forBollywood films.

ArtsEkta invited visitors to take part in an openmulti-cultural day at Belfast’s newest touristattraction, The Crumlin Road Jail (Gaol).

Bollywood comes toBelfastHigh Commissioner visits Glasgow

India in focus at varsitylectures

Punjab Link Council’sbusiness mission

Organised jointly by the PunjabLink Council, UK, on behalf of

East Midlands India Business Bureau(EMIBB), and supported by theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII),the Punjab Link Council recently led asuccessful business mission to Punjab.The 14-member business delegation,representing various sectors, visitedDelhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandharand Amritsar. The Council, in partner-ship with the CII, is making efforts toensure that the interests of the EastMidlands Business community are wellrepresented in Punjab. The Council isexpected to be launched soon inLeicester to provide the infrastructurefor maintaining a ‘piggyback’ relation-ship between East Midlands businessesand the global market of Punjab. Thisis expected to ensure sustained interac-tion and dialogue to promote business,tourism, education, training and gener-ic commercial links between them.

Queen’s University, Belfast, willbe hosting a series of lectures and

seminars by two highly qualified andrespected speakers from JawaharlalNehru University in New Delhi. Thelectures, organised by Dr. SatishKumar from Queen’s University, willstart from April 29 and continue tillMay 8. This will be the second suchfollowing a successful series of talks byIndian scholars last year.

The subjects for the series are —Changing the Interpretations of EarlyIndian History Perspectives of aReligious Conflict; Mahmud’s Raidon the Temple of Somanatha; India’sUnfinished Journey; TransformingGrowth into DevelopmentEconomic Reforms in India:Understanding the process andLearning from the Experience.

Renowned Indian movie directorAdoor Gopalakrishnan was the

keynote speaker at the ninth annualBelfast Film Festival. The Kerala-bornAdoor’s films were the focus of theWorld Cinema section of the fest.Three of his films, includingMathilukal (‘The Walls’) andNizhalkuthu (‘Shadow Kill’), wereshown at the festival.

Adoor, who graduated from theFilm Institute of India in 1965 withspecialisation in screenplay writingand advanced film direction, hasscripted and directed 11 feature filmsand about 30 short films and docu-mentaries. Notable amongst the non-feature films are those on Kerala’s per-forming arts. All his films have wonnational and international awards andAdoor himself has been conferredhigh civilian honours.

Adoor’s visit to the Belfast FilmFestival highlighted NorthernIreland’s emergence as a major centrefor film and television production.Belfast now has a huge studio com-plex for film production and a supplyof skilled technicians.

Northern Ireland Screen, thenational screen agency that aims topromote Northern Ireland as a majorproduction location, had invitedBollywood producers in 2008 to visitBelfast and other parts of NorthernIreland to look at potential locations.

Top: High CommissionerMr. Shiv ShankarMukherjee with Minister(Consular), Acting Consul-General Edinburgh,President Mel MilaapCentre, Vice-President AIO,and Director VFS Global, at the inauguration of theIndia Visa ApplicationCentre in Glasgow on March 23.

Left: The Rt Hon RobertWinter, Lord Provost ofGlasgow, presenting a bookto High Commissioner Mr. Mukherjee on March 24.