India maritime summit on February six

Mumbai, Feb 2 (UNI) More than 200 delegates will participate in the India Maritime Summit 2008 to be held here on February six.

The summit, organised by the CII and the indian National Shipowners Association, aimed to expose to the world the Indian shipping and maritime capability.

Maritime industry along with its constituent sectors of ports, shipping and shipbuilding, was a critical growth-driver for the Indian economy, Mr S Hajara, Chairman, CII National Committee on Shipping and Maritime and Chairman and Managing Director, The Shipping Corporation of India Limited, said here in a release adding that in the era of globalisation, International trade was driving the national economy. Since most of this trade was by sea, shipping has an important role in driving the growth of the national and global economy, he said.

The Summit would bring together providers of port, shipping and dredging infrastructure as well as policy makers to discuss issues related to sustaining investment in the Maritime sector. If India has to grow its external trade, then there needs to be exponential growth in the industry's gross tonnage; and also vast improvements need to be made in the port infrastructure.

The summit would be an important consultation with key stakeholders for the Industry, and would bring the maritime industry into centre-stage and provide an interface between professionals from sectors including cargo, logistics, banking, oil and minerals.

KPMG India, in association with CII, would release a report titled 'Indian Maritime Landscape' covering various aspects such as shipping, shipbuilding / ship repair, Human resource development / training in the maritime secto at the Summit.

Mr. Efthimios E Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organisation would be addressing the Summit.

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