Technical Symposium

Let us give a standing ovation to our Beloved Chairman Dr. Jeppiar M.A., B.L., Ph.d., our Beloved Secretary and Correspondent Dr. P. Chinnadurai M.A., Ph.d., our Dynamic Director Mr. C. Shakthikumar, Chief Guest of the day Mr. Gopinath, and our Beloved Principal Dr. R. Ramakrishnan. Let us begin the days proceeding with the Tamil Thai Vazhthu. The Departments of ECE and EIE present you Ambitus 2009 (Flash) Now I request the dignitaries to adorn the dais. It is a matter of privilege for me to deliver the welcome address to this august gathering. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this National Level Technical Symposium Ambitus 09 jointly organized by the Departments ECE and EIE On behalf of Panimalar Engineering College, I extend a very warm welcome to each and everyone present here today. I consider it a very special privilege to extend heartiest welcome to Our Beloved Secretary and Correspondent, and dynamic Principal and our honorable chief guest

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this Seminar on ''WTO Agreement on Agriculture", jointly organised by FICCI and the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture. We are indeed privileged to have with us this afternoon, Shri J N L Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Shri B L Das, Former Indian Ambassador to GATT and an internationally reputed and respected expert for his profound knowledge and vast experience in the subject. We are most grateful to you Sirs, for kindly accepting our invitation. We are thankful to Shri R C A Jain, Additional Secretary and Shri K D Sinha, Joint Secretary in the

Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and our distinguished panel of Speakers for kindly agreeing to be with us this afternoon. Friends, you will agree, this Seminar is being organised at the most opportune moment, as you all know that the Doha Ministerial Conference of WTO was concluded only five days back. Agriculture is a way of life and will continue to remain the mainstay of all strategies for socio-economic development of the country. Rapid growth of agriculture is essential for ensuring food security and alleviation of poverty. At the same time, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture covers and affects," increasingly so, most aspects of rural/agricultural economy, food policies and farm trade. With such pervasive and growing importance of the WTO in our agriculture sector, it is imperative that the essence of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture reaches an ever-widening audience. It has always been FlCCIs endeavour to involve more and more people as well as different economic interest groups in a nation-wide debate, deliberations and consultations on what should be our approach, strategy and negotiating position on tins Agreement. As We look forward to learn from the distinguished speakers and specialists, let me quickly share with you some thoughts and concerns of the trade and industry. I take great pleasure in extending a very warm welcome to all of you to this launch Roundtable on Petroleum, Petrochemicals Investment Regions, called PCPIRs in short, and release of the Policy document by the Hon'ble Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers. We are indeed grateful to the Hon'ble Minister Shri Ram Vilas Paswan for agreeing to inaugurate this important event and release the policy in partnership with FICCI. Sir, this is a historic occasion. I am sure that when we look back at this moment some years from now it would indeed turn to be a turning point for the petrochemicals and chemicals industry of India. I would like to thank Mrs Satwant Reddy, Secretary and Shri K C Misra, Joint Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals for this pioneering initiative. Mrs Reddy and Shri Misra have been proactively pursuing this new agenda for the chemical industry and have often consulted and interacted with FICCI members on key issues. The success of today's event is entirely due to their constant support and guidance. A very hearty welcomes to all the eminent speakers specially those who have come from abroad and distinguished delegates and media persons who have spared their time to be with us. I must, at this point also recognize the unstinted support we have received from the Indian Chemical Council (ICC).