PM to inaugurate Steel Summit on Mar 26

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the two-day Steel Summit 2007 on March 26 in which many of the domestic steel producers are expected to participate.

Addressing newsmen Steel Secretary R S Pandey said here today that the summit plans to bring together all the stakeholders including the government, industry and a host of international speakers and discuss all the issues of concern, which need to be addressed in order to facilitate rapid growth of the Indian steel industry during the next two decades.

He said the international speakers are expected to address challenges for growth from a global perspective, which should help the domestic steel industry address the issues likely to be faced in the Indian context.

He said India is currently going through a strong economic growth phase which is expected to sustain for quite some time.

As is well know, steel is integral to economic growth and consequently the consumption of steel is likely to rise steeply from current levels of 39 Kgs per capita to that of at least the world average of 150 Kgs per capita.

The meet would focus on the key challenges which have to be overcome to facilitate the rapid growth of the Indian Steel industry.

These include availability of land, wate raw material, mainly iron ore, power, coal and natural gas, development of an enabling infrastructure, environmental issues, human resource development and research and development.

The Steel Secretary said this meet coincides with the hostng of the first meet of the board of directors of the International Institute of Steel Industries, which concludes here on March 26.

He said Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will also address the meet on its first day, while on the second day the ministers from railway, power and other related ministries would be addressng the gathering.

The meet is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Steel and Confederation of Indan Industries (CII), he added.

UNI