Kamal Nath to kick off 'Celebrating India' week in Singapore

New Delhi, Apr 9: Minister of Commerce&Industry Kamal Nath will kick off the 'Celebrating India' week on 11 April in Singapore, showcasing the diverse aspects of Indo-Singapore relations and the best of India's artistic talent.

The festival will be inaugurated at a function organised by the High Commission of India, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and will be supported by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).

Mr Kamal Nath will be the Chief Guest and will deliver the keynote address at the business summit on April 12.

The week-long celebration coincide with the Annual Review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), between India and Singapore.

''This landmark agreement covering trade in goods, services, knowledge, and talent stands as a new model for cooperation between friendly nations,'' CII President Designate R Seshasayee said.

''The progress made in India-Singapore economic cooperation since the signing of the CECA has been inspiring and this week would see a mix of the cultural celebration with business meetings and seminars to further boost these strong economic ties'', he said.

The objective of the festival is to provide exposure to wide-ranging aspects of contemporary India in a focused manner.

A seven-member CII delegation, headed Mr R Seshasayee will participate in the festivities from April 10-16.

As part of the celebration week, there would be a Life Styles Exhibition, an Art Exhibition, a Tourism Fair, a Film and Theatre Festival and an Indian Cuisine Festival.

The celebrations include a two-day Business seminar, titled, 'Connecting India', which would cover topics like the the Indian Budget 2006-07, India Singapore CECA, manufacturing, Agro industry/food processing, finance, banking and legal services, education, trading, tourism, hospitality, logistics, real estate, biotech, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, among others.

Other members of the delegation include Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd CMD Malvinder Singh, MindTree Consulting Pvt Ltd Executive Vice President Chandra Kumar, GMR Group Chairman G M Rao, Tata Sons Executive Director Alan Rosling, Satyam Computers Services Ltd Director&Senior Vice President-Corporate Strategy Shailesh Shah and India Brand Equity Foundation CEO and CII Deputy Director Ajay Khanna.

UNI