By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director of India’s Bharti Group, has joined the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.
“As we transform the Endowment into the first multinational-and ultimately global-think tank to find solutions to increasingly global problems, I can think of few better people than Sunil to help us achieve that goal,” said Endowment president Jessica T. Mathews, making the announcement Friday.
“As one of India’s leading and most innovative entrepreneurs with global, Asian, and American partners, Sunil is a perfect example of the next generation of leaders who understand the importance of forging partnerships to address future needs,” she said
Mittal said: “I am delighted to join the distinguished ranks of the Carnegie ‘s Board of Trustees at such an exciting time in the Endowment’s century-long history.
“The recent redefinition of its role and mission-to become the first global think tank-is a vital one which I support fully, he said. “The many problems confronting the world can only be addressed properly through strong international partnership and collaboration.”
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace launched its “New Vision” Feb 6, 2007, adding operations in Beijing, Beirut, and Brussels to its existing longstanding offices in Moscow and Washington, to form effective, independent international partnerships through which to address global issues.
Sunil Mittal, the announcement noted, started his first business in 1976 at the age of eighteen and was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the potential in the mobile telecom business.
In just ten years he, along with a highly professional team of managers, including his two siblings, built the Bharti Group, one of India’s leading business groups, including the country’s largest mobile phone company.
“Today, at 51, he heads a successful enterprise, which has a market capitalisation of over $25 billion and employs over 30,000 people.”