NEW DELHI:
The Ladies Study Group (“LSG”), the women’s wing of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) consistently strives to present its members with global opportunities of collaboration and aggrandized experiences.
LSG hopes to motivate and encourage women to recognise their calibre and help them participate in issues related to social and personal development. Keeping up with this belief, the Ladies Study Group delegation led by Madhulika Kanoria set off for Vienna earlier this month. To help the members encounter the best and also enhance exposure, Madhulika Kanoria, President, Ladies Study Group organised an enriching meeting with Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s youngest Chancellor and Indian ambassador Renu Pal.
Speaking on the experience, Madhulika Kanoria shared, ‘Ladies study group had the incredible opportunity to take a high power delegation from Kolkata to Austria. The delegates were Preeti Goenka , Madhu Neotia, Anuradha kanoria, Rashmi Sharma, Saroj saran, Mukul Agarwal, Minnie juneja, Dr Rupali Basu, Gayatri Bhartia and Sreela Mitra. It was a great opportunity to interact with Sebastian Kurz and Renu Pal. We look forward to hosting them in our country for further collaboration.’
The members’ journey began with a guided excursion in Austria, voyaging back into the glorious history of the Habsburg dynasty of Austria. Following which, they first met the Indian ambassador Renu Pal for tea at the historic Imperial hotel. The ambassador spoke about her unique experiences of her career spanning three decades. She added, ‘Women of India were exceptionally empowered and are making a mark globally with their skills and talents.’
Pal spoke at length to each of the members of the delegate enquiring about the background and story behind each member of the delegation. It was a candid and enlightening session for the members.
On the 6th of September, dressed in traditional attire, the members visited the Federal Chancellery of Vienna in the afternoon. That was certainly a highlight for the members when they met the dynamic Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s youngest Chancellor. His warm welcome and inspiring speech was a delightful experience for them. On being asked about Vienna being considered ‘the best place to live in’, he spoke about the various steps Austria had taken, in areas of safety, social security, health, food, water, education etc. The Chancellor also said, “Austria was an export oriented nation, and with a 3.2 % GDP growth rate it was one the fastest growing countries in the European Union with very low unemployment rates.”
Madhulika Kanoria invited chancellor to visit Kolkata along with a delegation of industries from Austria. The Chancellor said he will look forward to visiting India in 2019.
The Chancellor was accompanied Juliane Bogner-Strauß, Federal Minister for Women, Families and Youth and Margarete Schrambock , Minister of Digital and Economic affairs. The two ministers stayed back for an extended session with us.
Speaking on women empowerment, Bogner-Strauß emphasised that many women completed university but relatively few rose to senior corporate positions thereafter. Hence they were specially focussed on supporting women through paid leave after child birth and excellent child care programmes to encourage them to return to workforce and work full time.
Shrambock stressed that Austria was working towards making Austria a highly digitised nation, starting with a digitised education system. She said they had achieved high employment numbers due to an unique apprenticeship system that was introduced at the school level. In the programme corporations collaborated with the government offering skill based internships to young students in tandem with school .The minister indicated they were willing to collaborate and help India replicate this system. She also said the Austrian corporations were encouraged to take in a diversified workforce and their diverse contribution often improved the rating of the company.
Overall the positive energy was overwhelming!
Preeti Goenka, member of Ladies Study Group shared, “The main highlight was of course meeting the chancellor. Hallstatt was a lovely village with a lot of character. The drive was so beautiful.”
Anuradha Kanoria added, “The LSG trip to Austria was truly memorable. How often does one get to meet the Chancellor of a country and one so young and handsome at that. In a frank conversation with 2 lady ministers neither of whom, by the way, are career politicians we got an insight into the many initiatives Austria is taking to skill their citizens along with providing them quality education.
Saroj Agarwal, another member opined, “Our recent visit to the Sound of Music country – Austria, organised by Ladies Study Group President, Madhulika Kanoria, was a great learning experience. We had the opportunity to meet the Federal Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. He enlightened us about the various trade opportunities between India & Austria. We also met the Indian Ambassador, Renu Pall. She shared with us about her various posting experiences across the globe. She also took keen interest in all the activities of the Ladies Study Group.”
