PM to open India Economic Summit on Sunday

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the three-day India Economic Summit on Sunday being held here in the backdrop of the global financial crisis.

"The programme for this year's Summit will lead to concrete recommendations for addressing key challenges such as skill development, financial empowerment of the poor and development of female talent," Director and Head of Asia at the World Economic Forum Sushtant Palakurthi Rao told reporters here.

Cabinet Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Anand Sharma, Murli Deora, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath, and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are scheduled to address the Summit.

Besides, business leaders Chanda Kochhar (ICICI (ICICIBANK.NS : 902.85 -7.25)), Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo-USA), Shumeet Banerji (Booz and Company-UK), Carlos Ghosn (Renault-France, William D Green (Accenture-USA) and Baba N Kalyani (Bharat Forge (BHARATFOR.NS : 273.8 -5.15)) will participate in the event.

Rao further said India with its large population of youth could become a hub for manufacturing and technological innovations.

The WEF will be celebrating 25 years of its engagement with India at the annual Economic Summit.