Asean business summit on Oct 17

To accelerate the process of socio-economic development between India and Asean, the India-Asean Business Summit begins here on October 17 to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

“The steadily growing interest of India and Asean in each other has necessitated the summit level meeting. This is an important step in the evolution of relationship between the two and will help preparations for the Indo-Asean summit to be held in November in Cambodia,” additional secretary, ministry of external affairs, Rajiv Sikri, told reporters here.

“There are various aspects to the Indo-Asean relation. But trade and economic linkages form the core,” he said, adding “major players of the region should develop better linkages to synergise the efforts of both sides for further development of their economies.” The second leg of the summit will be held on October 18 at Hyderabad. The summit, being organised by Ficci would focus on infrastructure, tourism, special economic zones, oil and gas, financial services and insurance, hrd, it, entertainment and biotechnology sectors.