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| SF Sister City Delegation to Visit Bangalore in Nov. | | By SUNITA SOHRABJI | | | indiawest.com | October 26, 2009 03:57:00 PM |
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A delegation of more than 40 San Francisco city officials, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, and heavyweights from the Silicon Valley tech industry will travel to Bangalore Nov. 27, in the inaugural trip of the San Francisco-Bangalore sister city collaboration.
The delegation will aim to create partnerships between the two cities in trade, technology, investment, health and education. The delegation will also focus on cultural and philanthropic collaborations between the two cities.
 Jim Herlihy, co-chair of the San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative, told India-West the delegation would finalize four to six memorandums of understanding that have been in the works since the sister city memorandum of understanding was signed between the two cities May 29.
The Public Utilities Commission will offer its expertise on wastewater treatment to Bangalore. San Francisco – one of the top cities nationwide for recycling — will also offer its proficiency on solid waste management, said Herlihy.
The delegation will also offer San Francisco city resources in the areas of infant and childhood disease and perinatal women’s health. UC-San Francisco, one of the nation’s leading health facilities, will sign an MOU with Biocon, the leading biotech company in Bangalore, headed up by Kiran Mazumdar, who sits on the Bangalore sister city board.
The National Institute for Fashion Technology will sign an MOU with the Academy of Arts in San Francisco for technical cooperation and student exchange programs, added Herlihy.
Judy Wilbur, board member of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and Jay Xu, museum director, will travel with the delegation to secure collaborations with Indian artists. The museum holds one of the world’s best collections of Asian art.
“We want the Asian Art Museum to be the gateway to bring shows of Indian art to the U.S.,” said Herlihy.
Cisco’s Bangalore satellite will host the delegation on the second day of its three-day trip. Newsom will cut the ribbon on a new building on the sprawling Cisco campus in Bangalore. That evening, Vijay Mallya of United Breweries will host a gala reception for the group.
Several emerging technology companies in the areas of biotech, alternative fuels, and clean tech will present their work on the last day of the trip at a seminar hosted jointly by the Bangalore and Silicon Valley chapters of The Indus Entrepreneurs.
In related news, the San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City committee offered its condolences to victims of the recent floods in South India that have left more than 250 people dead and about 2.5 million homeless.
“I offer my deepest condolences to those affected by the flooding in India,” said Newsom in a statement. “San Francisco has particularly strong economic, social and cultural ties to our sister city Bangalore, and I was deeply saddened to hear of the suffering there,” he said.
In other news, Ro Khanna, deputy assistant secretary for domestic operations, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce, will lead an energy efficiency trade mission to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai Nov. 16-20.
The mission will focus on bringing energy efficient products from U.S. manufacturers to the burgeoning Indian market. Members will participate in a U.S.-India Energy Efficiency Technology Cooperation Conference in New Delhi Nov. 16 and 17, which is jointly organized by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The delegation will visit Chennai Nov. 18 and Mumbai Nov. 19 and 20. Participation fees are $4200 for large firms and $3500 for small or medium-sized firms.
Khanna told India-West he was currently unable to discuss the mission. |
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