NEW DELHI, 12 November 2006 — An international conference on Indo-Arab relations is being jointly organized by the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum, (IAECF), and Institute of Objective Studies, (IOS), here on Nov. 13-14. The conference will be inaugurated by Minister for Finance P. Chidambaram. Dr Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, will be a guest speaker at the inaugural session. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit the venue and meet the delegates tomorrow. In addition, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Chemical Fertilizers and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and other dignitaries will also attend.
A press statement issued by the organizers said that the conference will build on economic and cultural relations between India and the Arab world for centuries to forge new ties based on trade and investment. It will examine new fields of cooperation in education, industry and health care. The statement said that the Arab dignitaries from government and private sector are to participate in substantial numbers. Their delegates would include ministers, important businessmen, academics, bureaucrats and corporate leaders.
The conference is billed as the starting point of substantially expanded interaction between the two sides in areas like trade, investment, joint ventures, energy, financial and banking services, technical education, and cutting-edge technologies.
The organizers said India’s lead in technical and professional education, IT, ITES, pharmaceuticals, biotech, nano-tech, entertainment, media and manufacturing were attractions for other countries. Cooperation and investment in these areas would be boosted by the conference. The objectives of the conference include: to utilize already existing attitudinal ties between people of Indo-Arab region to create opportunities and ventures for trade, commerce and economics linkages; to identify key sectors of financial, educational and economic spheres and to asses their potential for reciprocal exchange and joint ventures; to create institutional mechanisms for conducting, regulating and monitoring partnership programs, investment ventures, exchange programs etc.; to create research and development organizations relating to these objectives and to foster people-to-people contacts and bring about articulation for creating peace, progress and harmony in the region.
