Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Union Minister of Finance, Government of India will lead India's presence to the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos that has emerged as the world's global business summit, to be held between 25 – 30 January, 2001. As a special honour, World Economic Forum has invited Mr. Sinha to address the Opening Plenary Session titled "How can Globalisation Deliver the Goods : The view from the South" on the 25th January with Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa, President of Tanzania, Mr. Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes, Minister of Agriculture and Food Supply of Brazil and Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Dy. Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce of Thailand. The session would be chaired by Mr. Klaus Schwab, Founder and President, World Economic Forum. 

In addition, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will have a 40-member CEOs delegation at Davos. The CII President, Mr Arun Bharat Ram will lead the CII Team which includes Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Vice President, CII and Vice Chairman, RPG Enterprises Ltd.; Mr Tarun Das, Director General, CII; Mr. Ajay Khanna, Dy. Director General, CII and Dr. Omkar Goswami, Chief Economist, CII and the industry delegation from India comprising of key industry leaders from both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ economy. 

Among the prominent industrialists representing the old economy include Mr. Yogesh C Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Limited; Mr. Adi B Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Soaps Limited; Mr. Rajive Kaul, Chairman and Managing Director, NICCO Corporation Ltd.; Mr. Atul C Kirloskar, Chairman and managing Director, Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd.; Mr. Vijay Mallya, Group Chairman, UB Group; Mr. Sumit Mazumdar, Managing Director, TIL Ltd.; Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprise; Mr. Pramod Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Ispat Industries Ltd.; Mr. Lalit K Modi, President and Managing Director, Modi Enterprises; Mr. Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman & Managing Director, Bajaj Electricals Limited; Mr. Maitreya V Doshi, Managing Director, Premier Automobiles Limited; Mr. Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways (I) Ltd.; Mr. Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd.; Mr. Baba N Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd.; Mr. Uday S Kotak, Vice Chairman, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. and Mr. Udayan Bose, Chairman and Chief Executive, Lazard India Limited.

With the twin imperatives of globalisation and the E-economy demanding very rapid rates of economic change at the macro- and micro-levels in the Indian economy, Mr. Sinha’s address at the plenary session assumes significance and would elaborate on "How can globalisation process factor in the needs of developing countries?". Thereafter, in a session entitled "Business Interaction Group on India" CEO’s from all over the world would get an opportunity to brainstorm with Mr. Sinha on the current economic scenario of the country. Other sessions being addressed by Mr. Sinha would be "The Challenges of National Policy in a Global Era" and "Betting on India" wherein he would outline the initiatives and the steps Indian Government would be taking towards fulfilling its economic potential and providing the foreign investors an enabling environment.

The focus on E-economy at this year’s Davos meet would also be reinforced by the participation of Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh who would be addressing two important sessions at the Meeting namely, "E-Government : The Next Revolution" and "How do you spell Entrepreneurship". Mr. Naidu who has been at the vanguard of the E-revolution in India would share a special distinction of being invited to Davos for the third time. The Chief Minister would also be networking with the top executives of the companies during the meet. 

Dr. Rakesh Mohan, who has recently assumed position as the adviser to the Finance Minister, would also accompany the Finance Minister and share his views on the impact of globalisation at a session entitled "Integration or Disintegration" .

Another prominent leader Mr. Digvijay Singh, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh would also be part of the high level delegation and would be addressing sessions entitled "A Glass Half Empty" and "Emerging Markets: Hard Times Ahead?". 

Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd. would be one of the Co-chairmen of the prestigious event along with Mr. Minoru Makihara, Chairman, Mitsubishi, Ms. Carleton S Fiorina, President and CEO, Hewlett Packard, Mr. Marcel Ospel, CEO, UBS and Mr. Ron Sommer, Chairman of the Board of Management, Deutsche Bank. For the first time in the history of World Economic Forum an Indian has been designated as co-chair of the Annual Meeting.

Reinstating India’s focus on IT and the new technology, prominent leaders participating at the Davos meet would include Mr. N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and CEO, Infosys Technologies; Mr. Shiv Nadar, Chairman, HCL Corporation Ltd.; Mr. Anilkumar Naik, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro Ltd.; Mr. Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman, NIIT Ltd.; Mr. Ajay G Piramal, Chairman, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd.; Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation; Mr. Vinay Rai, Chairman and Managing Director, Usha (India) Ltd.; Mr. S Sandilya, Group Chairman and Chief Executive, Eicher Group; Mr. Dhruv M Sawhney, Chairman and Managing Director, Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd.; Mr. Rajesh V Shah, Managing Director, Mukand Ltd.; Mr. Hari Shankar Singhania, Chairman, J K Industries Ltd; Mr. M V Subbiah, Executive Chairman, EID Parry (I) Ltd.

Keeping the right balance, the Davos meeting would also focus on social development issues. Ms Mirai Chatterjee, Secretary, Self Employed Women’s Association, India and Ms. Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology would be representing the Indian NGOs and the social sector at Davos Meeting. Their deliberations would encompass subjects such as Gender Gap, Philanthropy Partnerships, Health, Nature, among others. 

Another important event pertaining to India would be the CII’s Annual India reception that would be hosted on Saturday, 27th January in Davos. Mr. Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania, Mr A Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry, Republic of South Africa, among other top dignitaries, are likely to participate. More than 200 CEOs would be attending the reception.

More than 1,000 top business leaders, 250 political leaders, 250 foremost academic experts in every domain, including many Nobel Prize winners, and some 250 media leaders would come together to shape the global agenda at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos. 

The Confederation of Indian Industry coordinates the "India presence" at the Annual Meeting of the WEF at Davos and at all the regional summits worldwide. CII is also the co-partner to the WEF for the annual India Economic Summit that is held in New Delhi in November / December of each year. The next Summit is scheduled for 2nd - 4th, December, 2001. 

A.P and M.P. to share  centre-stage at Davos

Reachout's News Bureau
- January '2001

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