Dear Friends,

It has been a truly memorable couple of years for me and the entire AANA executive:

Dr. Gautam L Baruah – President

Mrs. Roopa Sharma – Vice-President

Mrs. Ranu Dutta – General Secretary

Dr. Deva Borah - Treasurer

Throughout our tenure, the guiding principles have been to maintain the lofty traditions of the past committees of bringing the expatriate Assamese community together through our Annual conventions, newsletters, directory and Luhitor Pora Mississipi. Our main focus was to streamline our activities and grow our organization so that AANA could undertake bigger projects in the future. Our achievements over the tenure spanning 2011 to 2013:

• Opening a new and vibrant website- www.AANAhome.org
• Boosting life membership significantly
• Convention guidelines – passed in the annual general body meeting (AGBM) in 2012 at Calgary
• Convention White paper- passed in AGBM in 2013 at Detroit
• Facilitating the conventions at Calgary, Detroit, and finalization of venue for Assam Convention in the Northeast in 2014.

We were particularly satisfied to have generated the Convention White Paper that encapsulates all the aspects of convention organization ranging from Hotel contracts, Budgets and Program content. It has several helpful guidelines, samples and templates. This document has received invaluable inputs from our community stalwarts and previous organizers. We thank them for their expertise and dedication. Due to the relatively small population of Assamese expatriates spread over vast distances, organizing the Assam Convention is a complex venture. We hope this will facilitate Conventions for future organizers. Although we lived apart from each other, there was a remarkable level of co-ordination and cohesion through our conference calls and AGBMs. This is what has made it possible for us to achieve so much in just two years.

As we pass the baton over to the next executive, I exhort you to join our organization. If you have a desire to contribute to our culture, champion worthy causes or want your voice to be heard, join us. Together we could work miracles. You may not need the community but the community needs you. The common refrain from the people from Assam is: “Please enlighten us on how you execute business, education, healthcare and projects”. This is where the Assamese technocrats in USA and Canada could come up with guidelines and best practices in their respective areas. AANA provides the perfect platform for you to put together great ideas and make good things happen in Assam.

It has indeed been an honor to serve the community over the last two years. Hope to meet many of you in future conventions and elsewhere.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Dr. Gautam L Baruah

Outgoing President, AANA