Rotary South Asia Summit 2013 @ Hyderabad

5000 plus Rotarians from South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Afganistan, Nepal, Singapore, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Srilanka converged at Hyderabad on 3^rd May 2013 for the summit. Following are some of the highlights:

·         Conference took place at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).

·         Event was organized in the mammoth hall with seating capacity for 6000 Rotarians.

·         Registration counters were buzzling with activities in spite of as many as 15 counters.

·         Eminent speakers from the Rotary world and outside addressed the gathering on the three day event.

·         Honoroble Chief Minister of Andhra pradesh Mr.Kiran Kumar Reddy was one of the invited speakers.

·         Rotary International President Nominee Gary Huang from Taiwan, Past RI President Rtn.Kalyan Banerjee, Trustee Chair Rtn.Wilfrid Wilkinson, Rtn. Rajendra Saboo, RI Director Rtn.Yash Pal Das were among top rotary leaders who were present for all the sessions and dealt with important topics like South Asia Initiative, Membership Development and Corporate Social Responsibility.

·         Rtn.Shekar Mehta, Director - Rotary International, was the convenor of the Summit.

·         Rotary South Asia Film Awards were given to best documentaries propagating the Rotary Values.

·         For Rotarians to network, there was “Hall of Friendship” with music activities and display of art and craft.

·         Food court was aptly names “Flavors of South Asia”, though we had predominantly Indian Foods.

·         Out of 140 Rotarians from RID 3000, 28 Rotarians were from Madurai, including 13 from our club. President Rtn.Athithan, Rtn & R’Ann Rajagovindasamy, Rtn.Valliappan, Rtn.Gopalakrishnan, Rtn.SPA Ganesh, Rtn.Ravee, Rtn.Ramanathan, Rtn. Rajkumar, Rtn.Karunakar, Rtn.Ramasamy, Rtn.Kannan and Rtn.Balachandran attend the summit.

·         Thanks to Rtn.Ganesh for having identified a Service Apartment near the conference venue. It was a Home away from Home – for these three days.

·         Frequent Pickup and Drop vans were arranged by summit organizers to reach the venue.

·         Total Registration : 5350 which includes,

o   Bangladesh : 400

o   Pakistan : 45

o   Srilanka : 27

o   Nepal : 63

o   India : 3800

o   Other Countries : 75

o   Cancelled : 185

o   R’Ann : 500

o   Rotaractors and Rotarylet : 200

 

No doubt, the summit was of International Standard @ economical cost.