The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) is all set to organize its 24th Biennial Convention from August 12th to 14th at ITC Grand Chola in Chennai with the theme: “Logistics-Reshape, Embrace & Surge, In the Digital Era”. This event will mark the first post-Covid pandemic physical conglomeration of the Customs Brokers/Freight Forwarders as well as the entire logistics industry in India.
Already more than 550 delegates from across India and overseas countries have been registered to attend the three days convention. The delegates include logistics industry stakeholders, representatives from different ministries of the Government of India, and various State Government participation and industry experts.
In this much-awaited event, delegates will have opportunities to interact with domain experts at six business sessions on current topics aiming to cope with the market trends/demands and expansion of the business horizon to surge. In addition, there will be B2B Sessions and evening entertainment /networking functions.
I take this as an opportunity to approach each of you to enquire about your safety considering the challenges that we have gone through and are going through for the past few years – a situation that no generation would ever have witnessed. With all the challenges, difficulties, restrictions, lockdowns one profession that defied all constraints and stood out was our logistics industry – to have consistently performed and delivered when the country was locked down. World now realizes the importance and potential of our presence, our performance, and our profession.”
~ Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI
The FFFAI Chairman further pointed out that the logistics industry is currently witnessing rapid, significant and visible changes, especially in recent years. With India becoming a signatory to the Trade Facilitation Agreement there is an accelerated approach by the Indian Government – more so of the Ministry of Finance – to create a seamless, smooth and swift environment for global cross-border trade. “The pace of trade facilitation is so dominant that adapting to such changes is becoming a challenge. The logistics industry is the core centre for the success of the trade facilitations and a comprehensive rethink is required in our business environment and business model,” the Chairman added emphasizing the importance of the convention theme.
In his opinion, while India is taking strong strides and is emerging as one of the fastest developing economies with huge expectations to be in the first few top slots in the years to come aiming to become a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025, there is a need match this growth in all support activities. Galloping global trade requires support services to move to top gear, which is possible only with a recast business model, digital enablement, innovative solutions and exploitation of technology to be a dominant global success story.
“We have all these capabilities and more though our only hurdle is to break the shackles of conventional mindset. With all the uncertainties around us, the only certainty is change and our willingness to accept and adapt to such change so as to remain relevant in every time zone. It is in this challenging backdrop that FFFAI will be holding our 24th Biennial Convention after a pause of a year due to the pandemic,” Mr Shinde added.
A V Vijayakumar, Convention Convenor and Immediate Past Chairman of FFFAI informed that delegates would be tremendously benefited from this Convention as it includes six thought-provoking and well-structured Business Sessions by the business session convenor and Chairman-Elect Dushyant Mulani. The sessions would witness discussions on the following topics: Customs-Regulator to Facilitator; Industry Perspective & Expectation of Customs; WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement; International Best Practices; Digital Global Customs; Digital Transformation for Business Enhancement; Indian Customs Initiatives on Digital Changes; Importance and FFFAI Initiatives for Skill Development; PM Gati Shakti & Multimodal Logistics Operations; Asset Based Models-New Perspective; New Age Financial Model; Resilient Supply Chains; Global Supply Chains; Overcoming Disruption; Railways Connectivity & Integration; Aviation Industry for the Future and Next Generation & Youth in the Industry, etc.
To be inaugurated on August 12, the convention on the initial day will be addressed by Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Govt of India, Cabinet Minister of Ayush; Shashi Kiran Shetty, CMD, All Cargo Logistics and Chairman, NITIE; Vivek Johri, IRS, Chairman, CBIC; Amrit Lal Meena, IAS. The valedictory session, to be held on August 14, will be addressed by Shripad Y. Naik, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Tourism and Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
