The 2nd Maritime India Summit organised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on the 2 of March 2021 was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi.
This virtual event showcased around 400 projects in partnership with 24 countries around the world and was aimed at leveraging the might of India’s significant maritime sector which consists of 12 major and 200+ non-major ports serving the 7500 km long coastline and vast network of navigable waterways.
The country’s maritime sector plays a crucial role in its overall trade and growth, with 95% of the country’s trade volume and 65% of trade value being handled by maritime transport and has augmented its capacity by over 65% across all Major Ports in the last 5 years.
While inaugurating the Summit online, the Prime Minister launched “MARITIME INDIA VISION 2030” (MIV 2030) an e-book outlining the Government’s ambitious plans to bring the Indian maritime industry on par with the top global ports in the next 10 years.
Speaking at the Summit, Mr.Modi said, “Our nation has a rich maritime history. Civilizations flourished on our coasts for thousands of years and our ports have been important trading centers connecting India to the world.
Through this Maritime India Summit I want to invite the world to come to India and be a part of our growth trajectory.
India is very sincere about growing in the maritime sector and emerging as a leading blue economy of the world.”
Talking to Shipping and Freight Resource, Mr.Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said “Maritime India Vision 2030 is result of 350+ consultative sessions with national and international scholars and stakeholders. This is the complete road map for the future journey. We aim to achieve Atmanirbhar Bharat through the Atmanirbhar Maritime Sector”.
MIV 2030 has identified over 150 initiatives across 10 themes covering all the facets of the Indian maritime sector.
This document and the initiatives identified are said to be the first comprehensive effort of its kind by the Government of India to define and meet national maritime objectives. These initiatives are being viewed as a major commitment from the side of the Government in supporting the country’s maritime initiatives and has garnered a lot of interest from all role players in the industry in India and globally.
The MIV 2030 is based on 6 key guiding principles
The 10 key themes outlined by the document are :
The Maritime India Summit said to be one of the biggest virtual summits in the world based on the participation of over 170,000 participants from more than 100 nations featuring over 50 global CEOs and more than 160 speakers came to an end on the 5th of March 2021.
One of the participants, Amir Rashad, CEO of Centersource Technologies, a Swedish based supply chain automation company, said, “The India Maritime Summit 2021 was a very impressive event.
The digital platform that the organisers developed for the specific purpose of the event was very unique. Although it is unfortunate to miss out on the physical event, it has been a pleasure to attend virtually.
In addition, there was a great list of visitors and exhibitions from a variety of companies and business areas that made for interesting business opportunities.”
Centersource is an end-to-end plug and play supply-chain digital platform that automates the most time-consuming processes companies are facing today including Trade, Logistics, Documentation, Analytics, Compliance, Accountability, Transparency, Visibility and a lot more.
In the midst of a global pandemic, this Maritime India Summit seems to have rekindled the hopes of a nation in terms of its initiatives and has raised the expectation for the Government of India to convert its words into action.
