New Delhi, January 2: Asian Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) has appointed K. Mohammed Haris, Managing Director of Mukka Sea Food Industries Pvt. Ltd, Mangaluru as Trade Commissioner for United Arab Emirates by consensus of the Member countries on Wednesday. He was appointed by Saad Al Dabbagh, Chairman at the head office based in Doha, Qatar.

“While I warmly welcome Haris into the board as the Trade commissioner, his experience and commitment to excellence will be a major asset for the Global Trade bodies and especially between India and the Arab nations. Congratulations and best wishes in his new role as Trade Commissioner.” said Saad Al Dabagh in Qatar.

“India-UAE relations are witnessing an unprecedented momentum with a large number of opportunities for cooperation and increasing investments, in key sectors like infrastructure and technology” said Haris who is actively looking at his new role in promoting trade relations between India and the Arab world specifically the United Arab Emirates.

“In the trade world, there is no one quite Haris from Mukka Exports. He is brilliant, hard-working and devoted to getting trade right. He’s been a devoted entrepreneur for nearly two decades on the Fishing and Sea food business, advancing the prosperity of India’s trade narrative. Through his work on various trade agreements, he has opened the doors for Indian businessmen to deliver goods and services in the UAE, strengthening our economy, and securing our leadership abroad,” said Dr Krishnakumar IAS, the former minister of Defense and Agriculture, Govt of India.

Arab world considers it very significant that the Trade Commissioner from India who is inaugurated as the head of the trade commission in the international organization which embodies diversity with many memberships from developing countries in light of maintaining and reinforcing the multilateral trading system. AACC hopes that the Trade Commissioner will address a myriad of challenges facing the India UAE Free trade agreement thorough cooperation with the Members, by demonstrating his deep expertise and experiences, his calibre of coordination with major countries, as well as his managerial ability to run multilateral institutions, which he has previously cultivated in his distinguished capacities in leadership roles and as a founder promoter of Mukka Sea Food Industries Limited. He has worked in different verticals with strategic assignments across companies, said a release.

Mohammed Haris receiving Niryat Shri Award by then President of India Pranav Mukherjee in 2014.

He would help the UAE exporters who can now benefit from greater market access through preferential tariff rates. Some products will be subject to zero tariffs from day one – others will see them reduced over time. The CEPA, which was signed earlier this year, is expected to increase the total value of bilateral trade in goods to over $100 billion and trade in services to over $15 billion within five years, said the release.

He is the Managing Director at Mukka Sea food Exports Limited and his role of building new businesses and forging international relationships with the Arab World qualify him for taking up the role of Trade commissioner for the United Arab Emirates. As a co-founder of SHIPWAVES he was responsible for building the next general digital platform for Global trade by streamlining the supply chain with Cloud and AI and Blockchain technologies. He also set up India’s first steam sterilised fish meal plant with expansion of 8 plants across the globe. Mukka group today has a turnover of over INR 600 Crores (Dhs 300 million) per annum and is one of Asia’s fastest growing companies.

“Haris is a great choice for one of the new Trade Commissioner as he joins the AACC to usher in a new era with more Indian leadership than ever before,” said Tribhuvan Darbari the Vice President of the board. As he has skillfully negotiated trade deals and crafted our nation’s trade policy while gaining a sophisticated understanding of the opportunities available and the challenges facing the Indian market that is looking at 5 Trillion in the short term. I look forward to working with him, as well as the Director General, to resolve the Committee’s long-standing concerns with the Free Trade Agreements. I also look forward to addressing issues that have not always been prioritized, particularly when it comes to climate change, labor, and SME’s economic empowerment. I wish him the very best in this new endeavor and thank him for his commitment to public service.” he said.

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New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.

Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.

In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.

"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.

The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.

On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.

“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.

He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.

"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.

The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.

"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.

Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.

In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.

"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.

On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.

He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.

"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.

Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.

"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.

Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.

"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?

"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.

The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.

"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.

The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.

"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.

The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.

“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.

He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.

India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.

“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.

Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.