Ketan Desai takes over as SGCCI president

Surat: Ketan Desai took over as president and Dinesh Navadia as vice-president of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Sunday. It was a simple function because of the death of 22 students in a fire accident at Sarthana on Friday last.

Larsen & Toubro group chairman AM Naik was chief guest and Ambassador of Thailand Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi guest of honour at the function.

AM Naik said we need to take city’s economy to villages. L&T set up a platform at Hajira to extract oil and gas and over the years, the place has registered on world map. “For the development of India, we need to work on education and medical field,” he added.

Naik said his work as chairman of National Skill Development Corporation is to equip four crore youths of the country with skills. “In Germany, 75 per cent of the youths are not studying in colleges, but busy developing their skills. We will have to work extremely hard to take our economy further. Nobody can stop you if you have devotion, passion, conviction and commitment to your work.”

Ambassador Gongsakdi said, “Thailand is an important market for Surat’s textile industry. Diamonds are equally important for us. We are confident of further improving business with each other.”

Ketan Desai promised to build a conducive atmosphere for trade and industry in the city. Desai said he will make effective presentations to government to sort out the industry-related issues.