Croydon hosts global summit celebrating the best of the borough

Croydon has played a key role as part of a two-day global summit attended by representatives from more than 25 countries.

Councillor Humayun Kabir, Mayor of Croydon, with support from the council’s economic development team, hosted the first evening of the World Humanitarian Drive (WHD’s) inaugural Trilateral Global Summit, which focused on promoting integration of global economy and businesses as a pathway for peace.

Those in attendance included business leaders, CEOs and policy makers and WHD founder and chairman, Croydon resident Abdul Basit Syed, who was appointed by Mr Kabir as international ambassador for the year. They also heard from council business partners including Croydon Business Improvement District (BID) CEO Matthew Sims, about how Croydon was the right place to invest in and help their businesses grow.

The event was held as part of the mayor’s pledge to support businesses across the borough.

“This was a wonderful event, with some great speakers and ideas not only for those across the world, but for Croydon too.

“There were some extremely influential people in attendance and everyone was in agreement that this borough’s future was bright – and more importantly that they would like to be a part of it.”

Councillor Humayun Kabir, Mayor of Croydon

Abdul Basit Syed, WHD founder and chairman, who organised the summit, said: “This summit has exceeded our expectations in terms of the quality of the presentations most importantly trade and investments opportunities that it has enabled.”

The summit followed the visits of delegations to the borough earlier this month; one from students and professors from Sankalchand Patel University and Kadi Sarva Vishvavidayalaya University in India, looking at how the council collaborates with universities and put a business focus on growth. Also a 15-person delegation visited Surrey Street market looking at how the £1.1million refurbishment created a more flexible open space with modern street art and graffiti installations to attract new visitors to boost the market, which has been operating since 1276.

“It’s great that delegations and individuals from across the world are continuing to visit Croydon, so they can understand the potential the borough has.

“Croydon is open for business and I’m really pleased we’re able to show investors what the borough could do for them – and what they can do for the borough.”

Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed, cabinet member for economy and jobs

2019-06-28T16:56:04+01:00 June 28th, 2019|Recent news|