Narendra Modi to promote India as investment destination at five-day World Economic Forum in Davos

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hard sell India as an investment destination at the five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, starting 22 January. He will address the inaugural plenary session at the WEF on 23 January, an official release said on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_4291941” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. AP[/caption] The annual meeting will be attended by 350 political leaders including over 60 heads of states. The participants will also include chief executives of the world’s most important companies and over 1,000 leaders from different walks of lives. Earlier, in 1997, the then prime minister HD Deve Gowda had attended the WEF conference. During his stay at Davos, Modi will meet top global business leaders. Briefing reporters, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said the prime minister will interact with global leaders and “inform them as how India is progressing”. He is going to Davos at a time when every country wants to invest in India, Prabhu added. When asked about the idea of the prime minister visiting Davos and how it will help in selling India’s growth story at the global stage, Prabhu said this is a single most important gathering of all top business leaders and bankers of the world. “This (Davos) has become a centre where top decision-makers converge. So when prime minister goes there, you see a buzz around that. It will definitely help India to get inbound investment and portray India’s real profile,” he said. Modi will also be interacting with the members of the International Business Council consisting of 120 top chief executives of major transnational corporations across sectors. The Indian delegation will include Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Besides, Andra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would also participate in the WEF. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will host a welcome reception for the participants, where it will showcase business opportunities in India in addition to country’s heritage and cuisine. The ministers attending the conference will represent the country in around 25 sessions on issues like next-generation industrial strategies, infrastructure acceleration and fourth industrial revolution. “India will showcase the enormous business opportunities as well as reforms that have been implemented in three-and-a-half years,” the commerce ministry said in a statement. Besides, trade ministers of key WTO (World Trade Organization) countries would be meeting on the sidelines of the WEF.