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Neelam Deo answers whether the world is flat.

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NEELAM DEO

Ambassador Neelam Deo is the Former Consul General of India in New York. She has a Masters degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and has taught in Kamala Nehru College, Delhi University. Ambassador Deo is a career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), with over three decades in the Indian Diplomatic Corps. She has been India's Ambassador to Denmark and Ivory Coast, with concurrent accreditation to Sierra Leone, Niger & Guinea. Prior to her assignment in New York, she led the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar Division in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, dealing with India's overall relations with these countries. Ambassador Deo has also worked in India's Diplomatic Missions in Washington DC, Bangkok and Rome. She is married to Dr. Pramod Deo, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service who is currently the Chairman of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission in Mumbai, and they have one daughter.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Neelam Deo: Well, I, of course, read his book “The [Earth] is Flat.” And I do think that it is accurate to say that the information technology industry made other countries, particularly the United States, recognized the changes that had taken place in India and recognized the potential. Because, of course, it was for sometime the largest exchange between India and the United States was in the IT industry. And, of course, this is not only because we are on opposite sides of the globe.

So the day and night factor plays very nicely for work in both countries, but also because a fairly large number of Indian origin Americans in Silicon Valley were making their mark. They were part of the innovative ideas that were [germinating] in the Silicon Valley. They were part of the way the connection was made between Bangalore and the Silicon Valley. And so, I think, that maybe the recognition by the United States came as the relationship in ICT expanded. But, I think, that there are lots of other areas in which as well we have very fruitful economic exchanges.