7th Global Economic Summit to strengthen bilateral ties with India and Middle East

World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries today announced their annual flagship event - Global Economic Summit  (GES 2018) on ‘GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS (GVCs) : Accelerating MSME Growth, Development and Sustainability’. Supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry & Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India and Foreign Trade Association,  GES 2018 will be held from February 22 to 24, 2018 at World Trade Centre, Mumbai. The exceptional three-day Summit aims to feature intellectually stimulating Conferences, Exhibitions, Business-to-Business Meetings, Awards and Field Visits.

Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India has consented to address the Summit. Other eminent speakers include Mr. Sebastian Saez, Lead Economist - Trade & Competitiveness, World Bank Group; Dr. Robert Koopman, Chief Economist and Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, World Trade Organization; Mr. Nadim Ahmad, Head of Trade and Competitiveness Statistics Division, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Mr. Hugo Beteta, Subregional Director, ECLAC-Mexico, The Economic Commission for Latin America; Mr. Andrew Crosby, Managing Director, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and Prof. Yang Jun, School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China.

More than 500 business delegates from India and overseas will participate in the Summit to explore potential partners in the value chain for their products and services and discuss challenges and policy remedies for integrating MSMEs in the GVCs. Focus sectors of the Summit includes Auto and Auto Components, Energy and Environment, Hospitality, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Construction and Infrastructure, Education and Vocational Training, Electrical and Electronics, Gems, Jewellery, Information and Communication Technology, Life Science and Biotechnology, Mechanical and Metallurgical, Textile and Leather along with Supply Chain and Logistics.

Key issues to be discussed in GES 2018 are:

·        Global Value Chains: Enabler of Sustainable Trade

·        National and Multilateral Approaches to Foster GVCs

·        Building MSME Competitiveness Through Value Chain Integration

·        GVCs: Adaptation of New Technologies

·        GVC Case Study Presentations (Agriculture, Manufacturing and Service Sectors)

Inviting participation and collaboration from the Enterprises, SME’s & MSME’s from Middle East and Africa (MENA Region), forthcoming Global Economic Summit will deliberate on the opportunities and challenges for MSMEs to enhance their participation in GVCs. The Summit will examine the effects of the entire process of producing goods from raw materials to finished products at competitive costs and quality. Providing opportunities for the MSMEs to extend beyond local boundaries by highlighting the global market trends, while integrating into the value chains shall be one of the primary objectives of the 7^th Global Economic Summit.

MENA countries contribute nearly one quarter of India’s total foreign trade. Making the summit an excellent opportunity for the Business Leaders / Policy Makers / Retail Chains / Financial Institutes and Supply Chain and Logistics companies from Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Summit will facilitate trade and business opportunities with potential partners. Petroleum products, financial services, agriculture commodities, real estate and construction are the dominant sectors in the bilateral economic partnership of MENA and India. 

Avalara Partnership Program for ERP publishers and tax practitioners

Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses, and an Application Service Provider (ASP) has launched GST Compliance Partnership Program for ERP publishers, tax professionals, and entrepreneurs. The program allows partner companies to offer Avalara’s TrustFile GST compliance solution to their customers to help businesses manage the new and complex GST compliance requirements within existing business and financial systems.

One of Avalara’s partners, speaking on the occasion, Tushar Kadam, Sales Director, abas Force (India) Pvt. Ltd.,  a Mumbai-based ERP provider with global customers and operations and 35 years of experience delivering flexible ERP solutions for mid-sized businesses aspiring to be leaders in their industries said, “Avalara’s solutions helped abas India enable our customers to easily and affordably manage their GST data reconciliation and return filing obligations. Avalara’s flexible file import capability reduces the time and effort new customers require integrating with our solutions. Because of Avalara’s support as a partner, abas India team can address all customer concerns regarding GST with ease. “

Partners need to sign up a simple form on Avalara site to enroll either as a Development & Solution Partner (DSP), Marketing & Sales Partner (MSP) or Accounting & Consulting Partner (ACP). Once enrolled in the program, DSPs along with Avalara team develops the integration between their system and Avalara TrustFile GST solution for seamless data transmission. This helps the customer extract its invoice data directly from their ERP to their TrustFile GST dashboard. MSP is purely a referral partnership arrangement.

Key to the program is Avalara’s multi-faceted integration strategy.  “Our extensive network of both partner-created and internally-authored connectors, “ enables us to deliver solutions through systems our customers already use,” says William Rau, Senior Director for Avalara, Inc., “and through the GST Compliance Partnership Program we are actively creating new connectors and expanding existing integrations to support India GST data collection. This allows businesses to have a tax solution built into their existing financial and business technologies that is designed to improve efficiency and accuracy in their compliance management.”

Avalara’s partners also benefit from a variety of other tools to support sales, marketing, and training efforts, including but not limited to:

·        Access to Avalara’s partner portal with an interactive dashboard for lead follow up

·         Tax training webinars & events

Avalara’s partner programs are designed to make tax compliance technologies more accessible to businesses of all sizes and help our partners grow. 

XIUS Enables Toka’s MVNO Operations in Mexico

XIUS, a global leader in mobile technology has been selected by Toka, a company specializing in electronic payment solutions to launch Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services through the brand Tokamóvil in Mexico. Toka will operate its MVNO on Telefonica Movistar’s network.

New technologies hold the potential for MVNOs to expand their product offerings and compete with value added services to attract and retain subscribers in highly competitive markets. Leveraging Movistar’s network will allow Tokamóvil to have low capital investments. This strategy would further enable them to provide their customers lucrative products with appealing tariffs and offers while also facilitating subscribers with impeccable service. 

Increasing smartphone penetration, mobile data usage and concerted efforts by the regulator to establish MVNO specific framework have been key in giving a boost to Mexico’s MVNO market.