International conference on federalism in Nov

New Delhi, Feb 19 (UNI) India will host a three-day International Conference on Federalism here from November 4.

Organised by the Union Home Ministry in association with the Forum of Federations, Ottawa, Canada, the central theme of the 4th Conference would be "Unity in Diversity : Learning from each other." The objective of the Conference is to promote dialogue on the renewal and development of federalism and greater co-operation among practitioners in pursuit of better governance, Home ministry sources said here today.

Practitioners of federal democracy at all levels including Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers, scholars, experts, administrators and social activists dedicated to federalism will collectively engage in the process of sharing ideas, experiences and drawing inspiration from one another.

The earlier conferences were held in Canada in 1999, Switzerland in 2002 and Belgium in 2005.

The four broad themes for the Conference are Fiscal Federalism- Emerging issues in Fiscal Federalism, Managing Diversity : Building on and Accommodating Diversities, Inter-Governmental Relations :Interaction in Federal Systems, and Local Government and Federal Systems.

There are also 12 sub-themes. Each of these has been developed by a panel of Indian and international experts.

A three day pre-conference will be held here during February 21-23 to give a final shape to the subject themes and papers to be discussed during the main conference.

The pre-conference also aims at finalizing country-specific and issue-specific case studies to be presented during the main conference. It will be attended by eminent national and international experts on federalism, Parliamentarians, civil society activitists, ambassadors and high commissioners of partner governments of the Forum of Federations and CEOs of industrial houses. Several Union Ministers and Chief Ministers will also attend the pre-conference.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will inaugurate the event.

UNI