Walter D'Souza, a Mangalore-based exporter, has been elected Chairman of the Southern Region of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
A press release issued here on Thursday said that the 45-year-old FIEO was an apex body of all export promotion councils, commodity boards, service providers, and IT exporters, and had 13,000 members from across the country. This was the first time an exporter from Karnataka had been elected to head the southern regional chapter of FIEO, the release added.
FIEO's southern region has its headquarters in Chennai with offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
It handles exports of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Pondicherry.
Mr. D' Souza was the first exporter from Karnataka to be elected Chairman of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India in 2005-07 and started the first global buyer-seller meet for cashew in 2006.
He led the setting up of the first research and development centre for cashew in India and had served as president of the Karnataka Cashew manufacturers' Association, the press release said.
The press release said that Mr. D' Souza was serving as a member of the steering committee on agriculture under the Union Ministry of Agriculture.
