CHAs play a vital role in the EXIM trade of the country.
The launch of Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) Women’s Wing was the highlight of the 49th Annual General Meeting of FFFAI held in Pune. Ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat, who inaugurated the FFFAI Women’s Wing, called upon the women to take active participation in national and international events. Women freight forwarders took part in large numbers at the AGM.
Tracing the background for the launch of this wing, Chairman of FFFAI Shantanu Bhadkamkar explained that women empowerment needs to be an integral part of our agenda and hence we require increased participation of women in the industry to bridge the skill gap. He also mentioned that in South East Asia and Far East, women dominated certain functional segments of the freight forwarding industry. He felt that with FFFAI’s new initiative, surely more women will be attracted to this field.
Convenor of the Women’s Wing Philomena Pereira stated that empowering women engaged in international freight forwarding is the need of the hour, women are highly confident of taking the challenge and the newly launched wing will take more and more initiatives for women’s empowerment in this field. Hence, she thanked Mr. Shantanu Bhadkamkar for his encouragement and vision of initiating such an important well thought out endeavour for the industry, which is at present largely men dominated. She declared that the new wing will help women from the second generation work with pride in this industry; it will also open opportunities to fresh incumbents to be a part of this industry, which is an important segment of the logistics field.
Mrs. Jyoti Bhadkamkar, while thanking Ms. Anjali Bhagwat, informed the gathering that the formation of this wing was blessed by former President of India Pratiba Patil.
Coinciding with the AGM, hosted by the Pune Customs House Agents Association, the FFFAI conducted the meetings of office-bearers, Councils, Sub-Committees and Executive Committee which was followed by the Golden Jubilee celebration mini seminar. Executive Committee members from all over the country attended the meeting.
A number of matters of importance to Custom House Agents (CHAs) in particular and trade in general were discussed, which included infrastructure, capacity building, training, opening of training centres of Indian Institute of Freight Forwarding, 24 x 7 Customs operations, etc.
Mr. Vasa Seshagiri Rao, Commissioner of Customs – Pune, who was felicitated on the occasion, appreciated the new initiatives of the FFFAI and acknowledged that CHAs play a vital role in the EXIM trade of the country. Among those honoured in appreciation of their outstanding contribution to the fraternity of Custom House Agents included Executive Committee Member and former Vice-Chairman Ashish Pednekar.
FFFAI also proudly launched the quarterly in-house magazine and released the inaugural issue ‘FFFAI News’.
The Golden Jubilee series mini seminar included a presentation by Mr. Anand Deshpande, MD, Persistent Systems Ltd, who shared his success story and entrepreneurial vision. He also explained how business grows in quantum leaps, elucidating how in each phase of growth the entrepreneurs should change themselves as also their business focus.
Mr. Sankalp Bhatacharyja of KPMG made a well researched presentation on the state of the industry highlighting key findings and trends. Mr. S. D. Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Customs, President’s Gold Medallist and the only WCO accredited Trainer in India, made a presentation on Valuation, citing several cases.
During the course of the deliberations, it was decided to study and address the issue of DDP/DDU/DAP shipments for ascertaining the assessable value.
www.sagarsandesh.com
No comments:
Post a Comment