The eighth CII Partnership Summit 2002 which was inaugurated yesterday by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is expected to be the largest international congregation of top business and political leaders after the September 11 attack.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair set the tone for the weeklong summit during his speech at Infosysity near Bangalore with a call to end terrorism before any meaningful dialogue can begin between any two countries.
A special focus of the summit will be on trade and investment. The summit will take forward the Doha declaration and is expected to set the roadmap for future negotiations as several trade ministers and officials will attend the meet.
Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director General designate, World Trade Organisation, and commerce and industry minister Murosali Maran will be addressing a special session on WTO at the summit. Mr Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, minister of commerce and industry, Sultanate of Oman, and Mr Youssef Boutros Ghali, minister for foreign trade, Egypt, will also participate in the week-long partnership summit. A special session on
