It was a colourful summer affair as the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) celebrated two occasions -- its 30th anniversary and annual awards gala--at one big party in Toronto. Members decked out in traditional dress, politicians and business leaders from across the country mingled and tasted Indian delicacies as awards were given out to outstanding leaders in the Indo-Canadian community.

Notable guests included Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty; The Hon. David Emerson, Minister of International Trade; Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Harinder Takhar, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the province of Ontario; John Tory, Leader of the Progressive Conservative in Ontario; Satish Mehta, Consul General of India; and R.LNarayan, High Commissioner of India.

Sunil Jagasia, president, ICCC, says one of the key mandates of the organization is to strengthen trade ties between Canada and India. Leveraging the talent of the Indo-Canadian community as a bridge between the two countries is one of the best ways to do that, he says.

Award winners included Ben Sennik, chairman of Desbro Holdings, for Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement; Rahul Singh, a paramedic with Toronto Emergency Medical Services, for Humanitarian of the Year; Gyan Chand Jain, founder, Atria Development Corp., for Male Entrepreneur of the Year; Rashmi Rekha, chair and director, ProSoya Foods, for Female Entrepreneur Award; Asit K. Biswas, chairman, Middle East Water Commission, for Professional Male Award; Mitali De, associate dean, Wilfrid Laurier University, for Professional Female Award; Ravi Sood, president and COO, Lawrence & Co., for 2006 Young Achiever's Award; Sankar Das Gupta, founder, chairman and CEO, Electrovaya Corp., for Technology Achievement; Nadir Mohamed, president and COO, Rogers Communications Inc., for Corporate Executive of the Year Award; and Rajesh Subramaniam, regional president, FedEx (Canada) Corp., for President's Award and Young Professionals ICCC 2006 Member of the Year Award.

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