New Delhi, Nov 23: India Economic Summit will be inaugurated today by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh here instead of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who would be busy campaigning for the assembly elections.
The 3-day summit, to be organised by World Economic Forum and Confederation of Indian Industries, is slated to be attended by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley, IT and Communication Minister Arun Shourie, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Themed as 'Enhancing India's competitiveness: A must for growth', the 19th India Economic Summit will highlight the need for developing infrastrcuture, corporate social responsibility, IT and agriculture sectors to sustain higher growth in the economy, World Economic Forum director for India, Colette Mathur, told reporters here.
According to a survey on 50 Indian and foreign delegates, the country's competitiveness increased in the last two years, but there were doubts about the economy's attaining over 7.0 per cent growth, she said.
Apart from the participation of 15 CEOs of multi-national corporations, the summit would be addressed by foreign delegates like Mayor of Chicago Richard M Daley, Congressman from New Jersey Frank Pallone, US Under-Secretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster, Asean secretary general Ong Keng-Yong, Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs S M H Adeli, Sri Lanka Commerce Minister R Karunanayake and others.


Bureau Report