Leggett Leads November Business Delegation to India, Goal: Boosting Biotech; County Presence at India-US Technology Summit

For Immediate Release: Monday, November 10, 2014

County Executive Ike Leggett will be looking to broaden Montgomery County’s reach in biotech and other high-tech areas when he leads a delegation of two dozen County businessmen and businesswomen to India during November 11- 21.

Among those joining Leggett will be Indian-American Maryland State Delegate Aruna Miller, Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Floreen, Montgomery College President Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, Global LifeSci Development Corporation executive vice president Jonathan Genn, President & CEO of the India-US World Affairs Institute Vinod Jain, and former White House communications director Ann Lewis.

“India is the most populous democracy on Earth, has the twelfth largest economy, and ranks fourth in purchasing power,” said County Executive Leggett, who several years ago accompanied Governor Martin O’Malley on a State economic development trip to India. “India has vast human and natural resources and the tens of thousands of Indians who live in Montgomery County are a natural connection to business and investment opportunities of mutual benefit.”

County Executive Ike Leggett will also visit Taiwan November 22-25 for talks on information technology and biotech investment in the first-ever County trade trip there en route back to the United States.

The India delegation will begin in Hyderabad before proceeding to New Delhi, Raipur, Agra, Amritsar, and Mumbai, and Bangalore.

Highlights of the trip include the following:

In Hyderabad, local and County officials will sign an agreement making Hyderabad the latest in a series of Montgomery County “Sister Cities,” a program established by community leaders under the nonprofit Montgomery Sister Cities in 2008. Previous Sister City partners include Morazan, El Salvador; Gondar, Ethoipia; and Xi’an, China. Delegate Miller is originally from Hyderabad.

In Hyderabad Leggett and the delegation will visit the US Pharmacopeia India, the Indian branch of the Montgomery County-based company, and also hold meetings at IKP Knowledge Park – India’s “Genome Valley.”

In New Delhi, Leggett and the delegation will participate in the international, two-day India-U.S. Technology Summit, which includes hundreds of Indian companies and government agencies involved in life sciences, cybersecurity, information technology and renewable energy.

In Bangalore, the delegation will visit the facilities of bio and high tech companies Syngene, Infosys, and Strand Life Sciences, all companies doing business in or with Montgomery County.

During the trip Dr. Pollard and Montgomery College will sign a collaboration agreement between the Global Institute of Humanities at Montgomery College and Jindal Global University.

On the cultural side, the delegation will visit the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site for the Sikh religion. 

Release ID: 14-407
Media Contact: Patrick Lacefield 240-777-6507