Deepening the U.S.-India Commercial Partnership: The First Year of the Modi Government

We are pleased to invite you to a special U.S.-India business collaboration conference taking place at CSIS on April 15, co-organized by the Ananta Aspen Centre and the Wadhwani Foundation. This full-day conference will convene senior policymakers, business leaders, and other stakeholders from both countries with the aim of generating practical policy recommendations that enhance economic cooperation. The session will include expert-led discussions covering some of the Modi government's most important economic initiatives including the Smart Cities concept, the Make in India campaign, and Skills Development. The conference will feature a keynote address by India's Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.

9:00 AM   Welcoming Remarks

John Hamre
President and CEO, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Romesh Wadhwani
Chairman and CEO, Symphony Technology Group

T.N. Ninan
Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre and Chairman, Business Standard Ltd.

9:45 AM   State of the Bilateral Economic Relationship

Catherine A. Novelli
Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, & Environment, U.S. Department of State

Arun M. Kumar
Assistant Secretary for Global Markets, U.S. Department of Commerce

Rajiv Mehrishi
Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance 

Panel: Skills Development and Innovation

Ajay Kela
President and CEO, Wadhwani Foundation

Gwendolyn Kopsie
Vice President for International Strategic Partnerships, Boeing

Tarun Das
Founding Trustee, Ananta Aspen Centre & Former Chief Mentor, Confederation of Indian Industry

Richard Rossow (moderator)
Senior Fellow and Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, CSIS

12:15 PM   Lunch

1:15 PM     Panel: Smart Cities as Innovation Hubs

Akhilesh Tilotia
Associate Director, Kotak Institutional Equities

Denise Lee
Associate Director & City Solution Leader, Deloitte

Catherine McKalip-Thompson
Sustainability Practice Lead, Infrastructure Planning and Development, Bechtel

Suparno Banerjee
Vice President for Public Sector Programs, Hewlett Packard

Richard Rossow (moderator)

2:30 pm    Panel: Make in India Campaign

Hon. B.J. Panda
Member of Parliament, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Party

Joseph Alhadeff
Vice President for Global Public Policy, Oracle Corporation

Rustom Desai
Managing Director, Corning India

Clifford Samuel
Vice President of Access Operations and Emerging Markets, Gilead Sciences

Tarun Das (moderator)

Keynote

Hon. Arun Jaitley
Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India