2020 Class of EuropeIndia40: Meet the Top 40 Under 40 EU - India/ UK - India Leaders

- Leaders from British Parliament, European Parliament and Indian Parliament participated in the virtual launch ceremony

NEW DELHI, Dec. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Europe India Centre for Business & Industry (EICBI), supported by Sivaleen Foundation of Developed India, released its 2020 Class of EuropeIndia40 leaders via a virtually ceremony which saw participation of leaders from British Parliament, European Parliament and Indian Parliament who shared their inputs with the young leaders. #EuropeIndia40, an initiative of EICBI which is in its 2nd year to discover Top 40 under 40 Europe India Leaders, covers the stories of young leaders and their contributions in promoting EU India / UK India relations.

The 14 women and 26 men who made to the EuropeIndia40 list come from all walks of life and represent 19 different nationalities - Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom. The 7 young leaders from India who made to the list are Mr Ajay Singh from Nimray, Mr Dan Ram from The Igniter Pad Ltd, Ms Judith Weinberger-Singh from European Business and Technology Centre, Mr Piyush Jha from CARE India, Ms Shairee Malhotra from European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), Mr Vidyadhar Prabhudesai from LeadCap Ventures and Mr Sumeet Kabra from RR Global.

During the virtual ceremony, from the Indian Parliament, Mr Alphons Kannanthanam - Member of Parliament - India/ Former Union Minister/ Member - Standing Committee for External Affairs, Indian Parliament shared his views on India's relations with the EU and the UK. He mentioned that "These young leaders are poised to lead us out of the current uncertainties.''

From the European Parliament, Mr Niccolo Rinaldi - Directorate General for External Policies of the European Union - European Parliament, Brussels shared his views on EU India Relations. Mr Rinaldi put forth the view that there is a is a need for 3 dimensional collaboration in between the EU, the UK and India.

From the UK Parliament, Hon Virendra Sharma MP - Member of Parliament - Ealing Southall and Chairman - Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group spoke about UK India relations and how young leaders can further help to build the relationship between the two nations.

Lord Waverley - Member of Parliament - House of Lords, United Kingdom shared his thoughts on Collaboration between EU/ UK and Indian stakeholders to promote trade and relations. He expressed his excitement on seeing all the young leaders together on one stage and mentioned that more of these kind of interactions among young leaders are essential.

Sujit S Nair, Chairman of Europe India Centre for Business & Industry (EICBI) said, "EuropeIndia40 list is an initiative by Europe India Centre for Business & Industry (EICBI) to discover the next generation of leaders in the EU - India corridor and the UK - India corridor who we believe are going to influence policy decisions in these regions. From our experience of playing a key role in promoting EU - India/ UK - India trade relations over the last decade whereby we hosted 22 Major summits at British Parliament in London and 2 Major summits at European Parliament in Brussels engaging various stakeholders including political leaders, business executives, civil society leaders, bureaucrats amongst others, we can proudly say that future of the EU - India/ UK - India relations looks very exciting as a new brand of young leaders are emerging from these regions."

In the year 2017, India and the EU celebrated 55 years of diplomatic relations. With Brexit opening new possibilities for furthering Europe India relations, India can look at having a renewed set of multilateral discussions with the EU and bilateral discussions with the UK. This has led to lot of discussions in the EU India trade corridor / UK India trade corridor that Brexit will make trade deals between EU and India / India and UK a little easier.

About Europe India Centre for Business &Industry (EICBI):  

Europe India Centre for Business & Industry (EICBI) an independent, multilateral organisation which promotes trade and relations between Europe (EU/ UK) and India. During the course of the decade, EICBI & its delivery partner Sivaleen has organised 22 major business summits at British Parliament  in London and 2 Major summits at European Parliament in Brussels. thereby engaging 3240 delegates from 2190 companies. In addition to this,  as part of EICBI's efforts to strengthen links between lawmakers/ businesses from Europe and lawmakers/ businesses in India, EICBI has been coordinating visits of various delegations to India and EU/ UK over the years. To know more about EICBI, please do visit - www.eicbi.org