India-China CEO Forum to meet during Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing

BEIJING: The second meeting of the India- China CEO Forum would be held during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here next week to discuss initiatives to boost the sagging bilateral trade as well as India's concerns over mounting deficit.

The meeting of the high profile Forum co-chaired by Anil Ambani, head of the Reliance Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group, would be held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 23 where Singh is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.

The two prime ministers were expected to meet the top CEOs from both the countries, signifying the importance attached by the two nations to the role to be played by the Forum to boost the trade which last year declined to about USD 66 billion from a high of USD 74 billion in 2011.

Both the nations' leaders were positive about reaching the target of USD 100 billion bilateral trade by 2015 and the discussions of the Forum were expected to centre on the joint efforts required in this regard, official sources told PTI.

Ten top CEOs each from both the sides would attend the meeting.

Besides Anil Ambani, top officials of Essar group, Ashok Leyland, GMR group, Tata Consultancy Services, Suzlon and Mahindra and Mahindra were expected to represent Indian in the meeting.

The Chinese side will be represented by Chinese co-chair Hu Huaibang, head of the China Development Bank and top officials from Aviation Industry Corporation of China, China Minmetals Corporation, China Sinosteel Corporation, China CNR Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Electric, Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation.

The Forum was set up during the visit of former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's to India in 2011. It held its first meeting when Li visited India in May this year.