Brainstorming session on core sector ahead

April 7: The most obvious hindrance to industrial growth of the economy in the nineties has been the poor pace of infrastructural develop...

April 7: The most obvious hindrance to industrial growth of the economy in the nineties has been the poor pace of infrastructural development. And to deal with this bottleneck, the Indian Investment Centre (a Government of India organisation, Ministry of Finance) along with the Wisitex Foundation have jointly sponsored a four-day international seminar — Infrastructure and Investment India ’99 — that would be held in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from April 20 to 23.

The event is being organised by the World Expo and Conventions Management Limited (WECOM) and its co-sponsors are United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido).

Almost all states are expected to take part in the meet. The event will have three facets — an international exhibition, a four-day international seminar and corporate presentation series. Some members of SAARC countries (like Nepal and Bhutan), USA, Uganda, along with representatives of other foreign countries are expected to take part in the meet.

The Department of Post and Telegraph, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), BCC Shipping and Ship Building Limited, Arya Communications and Electricals, Ministry of Railways, Vikram Cement, Chennai Port Trust, besides a host of other companies will make corporate presentations during the convention. Each state would give a separate presentation to selective delegates. Participation in the convention is purely on the basis of invitation. Over 1,500 delegates are being invited for the infrastructure meet.

This is the second time such an international meet on infrastructure is being held in the country. The first one was organised by Wisitex in 1997. “In the first meet, building infrastructure was merely a slogan. This time on, we want to put things to practice,” says Y L Arora, chairman, Wisitex Foundation.

Arora, however, admits that no business is likely to come out of the meet. “But the convention would expose projects in the present scenario. And states would make presentations, or rather compete with one another to attract investment in their respective states,” he said. Moreover, this would also encourage higher degree of involvement by companies planning to set up infrastructural projects. And then, the foreign delegates can look for investors from India.

The convention will be attended by the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K C Pant, Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Communication Jagmohan, Union Minister for Surface Transport, M Thambi Durai, Union Minister for Railways Nitish Kumar, Union Minister for Power P R Kumaramangalam, Union Minister for Urban Development Ram Jethmalani, former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal, among a host of secretaries from various ministries and chairmen of various Government undertakings like VSNL, ONGC, National Highway Authority of India, BHEL, NTPC and ITI.