IBCL President Aditya Sharma meets Luxembourg’s Ambassador to India, Peggy Frantzen, and Deputy Head of Mission, Valérie Heyman; Credit: IBCL
Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Aditya Sharma, President and Board Member of the Indian Business Chamber of Luxembourg (IBCL), about his recent and upcoming trips to India and their significance for IBCL members and Luxembourg-India business relations, as well as IBCL’s 14th anniversary event which is taking place later this month.
An IBCL delegation returned to Luxembourg on 25 February 2023 after three weeks attending three separate conferences in India: the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Global Investors Summit 2023 in Lucknow from 10 to 12 February, the Economic Times (ET) Global Business Summit (GBS) 2023 in New Delhi on 17 and 18 February and the 22nd World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) in New Delhi from 22 to 24 February.
As Aditya Sharma explained to Chronicle.lu, IBCL put together this trade mission quite quickly (in the space of a month), in coordination with Boson Energy SA (where Mr Sharma serves as Director of Strategy and Senior Vice President Asia), Blue Jade Capital Partners (with their India partner) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), having only found out about some of the events in late December 2022. Despite the short notice, a small delegation joined Mr Sharma on this trip and many other IBCL members, as well as Luxembourg MPs and representatives of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) and various companies in the Grand Duchy, had previously shared their thoughts and ideas for the delegation to then present in India.
Mr Sharma described the trade mission as “very much appreciated” by those who participated, who said they enjoyed IBCL’s outreach work and the opportunity to meet India’s business community in the country itself.
Mr Sharma reported that Luxembourg was “well seen” in India, known for its beauty and/or financial prowess, and that such trade missions proved the Grand Duchy’s interest in doing business with India. He announced that Luxembourg-based Boson Energy took this opportunity to propose a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Uttar Pradesh with the goal of setting up 20 hydrogen plants there in the next ten years. He expects further news on that front during his next trip to India later this month.