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WEF's India Economic Summit kicks off on Sunday
The UPA chairperson and the finance minister will be among the key speakers at the three-day event, whose theme is India: Meeting New Expectations.
The 22nd edition of the India Economic Summit co-hosted by the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) kicks off in New Delhi on Sunday with the participation of over 600 delegates from 32 countries.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be among the key speakers at the three-day event, whose theme this year is - "India: Meeting New Expectations", the organisers said.
Even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not addressing the event directly, he is, nevertheless, meeting some 200 selected members of WEF and CII at his official residence at 7, Race Course Road, for an hour-long deliberation.
Apart from the main theme, the focus of the summit will be on three thematic pillars - state and national competitiveness, managing growth, infrastructure development and risk management, the organisers said.
"Twenty-two years ago, when we started the annual summit, the general question which people like us had was 'when will India wake up'," said Colette Mathur, a senior advisor to the WEF board, at a press conference here.
"But we at WEF and CII had faith that India will definitely become a partner of the world economy. That's what has happened and this year's theme reflects that new optimism we have of India," Mathur added.
"The tremendous response received from global business participants is a clear reflection of the global business community's increasing interest and growing confidence in India as an investment destination," said CII president R Seshasayee.
The event also includes the participation of five chief ministers - Nitish Kumar of Bihar, Sheila Dikshit of Delhi, Amarinder Singh of Punjab and Vilasrao Deshmukh of Maharashtra.
