Awards, Business Deals Highlight U.S.

INDIA-WEST – September 24, 2010 –
B19
Awards, Business Deals
Highlight U.S.-Asia Expo
[Cont. from page B18]
far ahead in terms of spreading
democracy and spreading global
peace. I invite all of you to believe
that Asia is far ahead in terms of
culture, friendship and business,”
Manohar said.
The U.S.-Asia Business Expo
“is a forum looking at improving
trade and building global peace.
Who else but the Asian region…to
help the world realize we need
global peace for (economic) development,” he noted.
Among the celebrities attending
the event included singer-songwriter Asha Puthli, television actor Kunal Nayyar, and Bollywood
director Shyam Benegal. Both
Nayyar and Benegal were award
recipients at the Sept. 19 closing
gala while Puthli attended the
opening ceremonies two days
earlier.
“I’m very happy to be here and
privileged to receive this award in
the name of Raj Kapoor,” Benegal
said upon receiving the Raj Kapoor award for his outstanding
contributions to film. “I just came
to this event all the way from
India, and it is a huge privilege to
represent the largest film industry
in the world.”
Other FOSAAC awardees
included Nayyar (Chatrapati
Shivaji award for outstanding performance); Asha Puthli (Kalpana
Chawla award for outstanding
woman of the year); Dr. Anil Patel
(Sir C.V. Raman award for outstanding contribution to science);
M. Eshan Bayat (Mahatma Gandhi
award for outstanding contribution to society); Dr. Arjinder Pal
Singh Sekhon (Netajil Subash
Chandra award for humanitarian
efforts); and HRH Prince Malik
Ado-Ibrahim of Nigeria (Dalip
Singh Saund award for outstanding contributions to the global
community).
In all, 17 awards were handed
out on behalf of FOSAAC, while
USABF distributed another seven
honors, including I.T. Person of
the Year (Sonjib Banerjee), Foundation of the Year (Wockhardt
Foundation), and Green Entrepreneur of 2010 (Badal Shah).
Goonewardena, Kaul and Manohar were also recognized for their
contributions to the event and for
promoting an amicable business
environment.
Founding chairman Kevin Kaul
was applauded for his efforts in
launching FOSAAC, USABF and
the annual U.S.-Asia Business
Forums.
“I may have been the spark of
this organization, which started
in 2005. In 2010 (the participants)
are now the engine of this organization,” Kaul said.
“We put this event together
in a span of three weeks time
(because) we truly believe in this
cause of ‘global peace through
global trade.’ The U.S.-Asia Business Expo of 2010 is an event that
has been consciously developed
to foster new networking and
business relationships.”
The awards presentation was
bracketed by a series of Sri Lankan-themed cultural performances,
including segments featuring indigenous Sri Lankan drums and several traditional dance numbers.
Several countries had a strong
presence at the U.S.-Asia Business
Expo 2010, including Sri Lanka,
Vietnam, the Philippines and
Bangladesh.
Specific details of the announced
potential business deals totaling
up to $15 billion were not made
available. However, it
was announced that four
memorandums of understanding were signed
during the three-day
business expo, including a possible $10 billion
venture for a food processing plant in India.
The three other
memorandums of understanding were tied to
coal storage and green
infrastructure, it was
announced.
A pair of entertainers perform on a set of Sri Lankan indigenous drums to kick off the Sri
Lankan cultural program during the closing night awards gala and dinner Sunday evening.
(Parimal Rohit photos)