Pune, Dec 2, 2022: The recently concluded ASEAN – India Start-up Festival, which took place in Indonesia to mark the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN – India Partnership, greeted Pune-based distinguished noble leader and social entrepreneur Mr Iftekhar Pathan on behalf of Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur.

Mr. Pathan is a noted entrepreneur with over 30 years of professional experience and is the Co-founder of Metta Social Solutions Pvt Ltd. Iftekhar is also one of the founding members of Aundh Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), a first of its kind public, private partnership (PPP) multispecialty hospital project in Pune, apart from being the former member think tank of the World Entrepreneurship Forum (Lyon) France.

The event, supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, celebrated the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Partnership between ASEAN Member States and India as highlighted in the Action Plan for Shared Peace, Progress and Prosperity (2021-2025). Early and late-stage #venturecapitalists, founders of successful startups from India and the ASEAN Member States, ambassadors from India’s Mission to #ASEAN, the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, the ASEAN Secretariat, and Scientists joined the delegation at the Innovation Convention Centre in Cibinong Bogor, Indonesia.

“Visionary leaders of both the nations, Honourable Sukarno and Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, of Indonesia and India, respectively, had envisioned, envisaged and appealed to their people to build on decades of cordial relations between India and Indonesia. The First ASEAN-India startup Festival is a significant step in this direction. India and Indonesia are geographically and emotionally close and have many similarities. We need to work strategically to strengthen our ties and benefit from the respective entrepreneurial ecosystems,” said Mr Iftekhar Pathan at the Summit.