MVIRDC World Trade Center (WTC) Mumbai celebrates its 50th anniversary by holding a series of events on themes such as international trade, sustainable development, women's empowerment, promoting arts & culture, diversity and inclusion, among others.

"M. Visvesvaraya Industrial Research and Development Centre (MVIRDC), which is the promoter of WTC Mumbai, came into being on June 26, 1970 with the primary objective of promoting international trade by conducting research, educational programmes and developing world-class trade infrastructure," said Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai.

The 50th Anniversary Celebrations began with a music and melody program earlier this month in April by Bollywood Celebrity Singer Ms. Akriti Kakar at the Garden Lawn of WTC Mumbai, which was attended by diplomatic corps of various countries including members of trade and industry.

"MVIRDC was instrumental in bringing the global WTC brand to India in 1970, that became an iconic landmark in South Mumbai, long before India opened its economy to global trade and investment," Dr. Kalantri said.

WTC annually conducts over 60 trade events including meetings with inbound trade delegations, workshops and conferences, besides the flagship events such as World Trade Day, Global Economic Summit and World Trade Expo. In recent months, the Center has organized interactive meetings with delegations from Mauritius, Colombia, Argentina, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and other developing and developed countries.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, WTC Mumbai has been facilitating local MSMEs to connect with their potential buyers abroad by launching a new age digital platform, wetrade.org, with cutting edge virtual networking features.

As the concept of sustainable development took center stage, the activities of WTC Mumbai are increasingly focused on gender equality, diversity and inclusion, skill development for physically challenged youth, waste management, eco-friendly production and consumption.

MVIRDC is also the only non-governmental organization in India to be accredited as a WIPO depository in India. WIPO is a self-funding agency of the United Nations and it acts as the global forum of 193 member countries for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation.

In Photo: Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai (3^rd from left) felicitating Bollywood Celebrity Singer Ms. Akriti Kakar. Also seen in the photograph are: Mr. Ajoykant Ruia, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai (extreme left) and Ms. Rupa Naik, Executive Director, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai (extreme right)