At the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma met chiefs of global corporates like Novartis, Philips and Llyod’s among others besides his counterparts from other countries.
In his meeting with Frans A van Houten, president and CEO, Royal Philips Electronics, the company express interest in manufacturing facility in India along with local sourcing requirement for LEDs while chairman of BAE Systems Richard Olver evinced interest in forging new ties with defence sector PSUs.
As per commerce ministry officials, pharmaceutical giant Novartis conveyed its appreciation for movement towards market based pricing regime besides showing interest in enhancing investment in India.
On the other hand, John Nelson CEO of Lloyd’s expressed the hope that the insurance bill will be legislated upon soon and before the visit of Prime Minister of the UK.
Anabel Gonzalez, minister of foreign trade, Costa Rica who is a candidate for the director general of WTO met Sharma and sought India’s support and talked about her views on WTO. Sharma will be meeting the candidates from Mexico and New Zealand also.
Sharma is likely to attend an informal WTO ministerial to discuss the trends in Doha round negotiations. He will also meet the BRICS Trade Ministers. The meeting will set ground for the BRICS Summit and Trade Ministers meeting to be held in Durban in March.
