The three day Global Maritime India Summit, (GMIS) 2023 concluded with the exchange of a whopping 360 MoUs with investment commitments of ₹8.35 lakh crores, and the announcement of additional investible projects worth ₹1.68 lakh crores.
With this achievement, the third edition of the GMIS marked significant progress towards achievement of ‘Amrit Kaal Vision 2047’ of ₹80 trillion investment - a vision document shared at GMIS 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development of maritime sector by 2047.
On the concluding day of the GMIS, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal held bilateral meetings with Ministers from Nepal & the Netherlands to foster maritime cooperation.
At the valedictory session, Union Minister Sonowal unveiled the ‘GMIS 2023 Mumbai Declaration’ along with the Union Minister of Finance, Nirmal Sitharaman; the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal; the Union Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan; the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendrabhai Patel; the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis; the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Shripad Naik, and the Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Shantanu Thakur among others.
Speaking at the valedictory session, the Union Minister Sonowal expressed gratitude to the 10 partner countries, over 50 participating countries, all the stakeholders, and delegates for the success of the summit. "We believe that GMIS has achieved its objective of a platform to boost regional cooperation, and collaboration among maritime nations."
Highlighting the role of innovation and technology, Union Minister Sonowal added, " Establishing Digital Centre of Excellence for Maritime Efficiency (COEME) is one of the many initiatives that displays Modi government’s commitment towards technological advancement – both towards indigenous and collaborative development. "
The Union Minister of Commerce Goyal praised the efforts of the Shipping Ministry to enhance the EXIM trade capacity of India by which it has achieved more 450 billion dollars of trade in 2022-23.
The global Summit witnessed participation by 215 international and national speakers and 50,000 physical and virtual attendees.
During the three-day Summit, there were discussions on sustainable development with green ports and shipping, an area in which Norway and other leading maritime nations are defining best practices and setting standards for the rest of the world. “India, for example, plans to develop carbon neutrality among other globally trending areas on reduction of GHG emissions with the use of green fuels, electrified/renewable energy-based yard equipment, vehicles”, said Sonowal.
The Union Minister of Education Pradhan said, “We acknowledge the unsung heroes of the global economy - our seafarers, designated as 'Key Workers' by the United Nations. India's remarkable rise to the 5th position in global seafarer supply is a testament to our decade-long efforts in fostering industry-ready talent.”
He also emphasized the need for providing seafarers with a more supportive and more comfortable working environment evolved in the post-pandemic era.
The GMIS 2023 highlighted the opportunities in the India’s cruise sector while bringing to light government’s commitment to developing the cruise sector with measures like creation of cruise terminal infrastructure, relaxation in taxes, institutional capacity building with training academies dedicated to cruises, and an attractive and stable regularity policy framework in line with international standards inviting international players to set up base in India. The government is planning to release a holistic cruise promotion policy.
The GMIS 2023 summit concluded with sessions chaired by Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers and Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State for Ports, among others.
Dr. Mandaviya said, “Maritime clusters play a pivotal role in fostering collaboration, innovation, and efficiency within the industry and are indispensable in propelling our industry forward. By establishing well-equipped specialized clusters, we aim to attract vessels from around the world seeking high-quality repair services at competitive rates."
The Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Culture, Meenakashi Lekhi had co- chaired the BIMSTEC discussion yesterday and participated in the Chabahar session today.
Today's highlight was the panel discussion led by Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Govt of India around the maritime financing, insurance and arbitration.
Tracking the achievements of the country’s maritime sector, Sitharaman said, “in the past źremarkable 4.2 billion US dollars in Foreign Direct Investments. India's ports now lead globally, boasting a mere 0.9-day turnaround time, outperforming even international hubs like Singapore and Dubai.”
The summit witnessed a series of insightful sessions on the maritime sector including development initiatives with discussions on India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), BIMSTEC, Chabahar port INTSC corridor. Aspects like development of multiple ports of connectivity between BIMSTEC and IMEC economic corridors and facilitating joint forums to represent pertinent focus areas at IMO were some of the key areas of discussion.
A highlight of the Summit was the roundtable on Global Economic Corridors, which was attended by 60 representatives from various countries including CEOs from 33 international companies and 17 Indian companies. 21 ministers from the 10 partner countries also attended the Summit.