“India Maritime Week should provide the platform to take stock of the targets reached in Maritime Agenda 2020, and take steps to realise more projects in the next five years,” said Shri Gautam Chatterjee, Director General of Shipping. IMW 2014 and the editions thereafter till the year 2020 should focus on the Maritime Agenda and continually do a reality check, the DG said while chairing the Advisory Council Meeting of India Maritime Week in New Delhi on December 5, 2013.

Speaking on the maritime issues that may come up for discussion in the second edition of IMW 2014, to be held from January 28 to February 1, 2014, the DG said, the DG said all the stakeholders in the maritime industry would want to find out the strong takeaways from the first event that dwelled on making India a maritime destination, in tune with the Maritime Agenda. Aptly themed ‘Big Prospects, Big Challenges: India Marching Ahead’ the 2014 event is all set to discuss the existing gaps in the industry and look at ways of bridging them, thereby taking India’s maritime growth to the next stage of progress, the Advisory Council members opined.

A group of 20 Advisory Council members of IMW 2014, representing the diverse maritime domains, assembled at the Le Meridien Hotel to finetune the issues and the sessions to be tabled for the benefit of a cross-section of maritime players both from India and abroad. The Advisory Council that comprises business association heads and head honchos of ports, shipping and logistics sectors had a brainstorming session for two hours to bring out the essence of the forthcoming event through focused sessions, workshops, trade forums and round tables being planned during the week-long event.

The Council expressed hope that the event, that has been tailored to represent the aspirations and the true nature of the maritime industry in India, would be successful in bringing together the fraternity from the length and breadth of the country to deliberate on the pressing issues and work for a way forward.

Ramprasad, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Maritime Gateway, said IMW 2014 discussions will be aligned with what has and has not been achieved in the Maritime Agenda. “A status report on the progress of the recommendations made in the first edition of IMW will be brought out.”
As the event brings the industry and the government together to interact, flag out issues and understand the dynamics of the industry and its sub-sectors, IMW provides the perfect platform for all the maritime stakeholders to be heard and seen, Ramprasad added.