Arun Jaitley to leave for 6-day visit to UK, Switzerland tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will tomorrow embark on a six-day official visit to the UK and Switzerland during which he will also attend various deliberations at the World Economic Forum.

During his visit to London, Jaitley will meet his UK counterpart and Secretary of Exchequer George Osborne on Monday, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

He will also participate in three different investor meets organised by Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and CII & Kotak Mahindra among others.

During his interaction with international investors, Jaitley will apprise them of the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and investment opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing and services in India.

"The present government has taken various initiatives in the last one-and-a-half years making India an attractive destination for investment. These initiatives have resulted in making the Indian economy more transparent, stable and reliable," the statement said.

"Now policy decisions have become faster and predictable. Other major initiatives include various tax rationalisation and simplification measures and opening up of different sectors of the economy for FDI among others," it added.

On January 19, Jaitley will participate in India-UK Bilateral Meet and Economic and Financial Dialogue and in the evening he will leave for Zurich, Switzerland.

The Finance Minister will participate in various World Economic Forum (WEF) programmes and meetings at Davos.

Jaitley is leading a large Indian delegation mainly consisting of captains of Indian trade and industry who in turn will also meet their counterparts from different participating countries to explore the possibilities of trade and investment among others.

Later, he will also address a seminar on 'India-Next Growth Engine of Financial Inclusion and Financial Governance'.

Besides, Jaitley will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from different countries on the sidelines of WEF Meetings and would discuss among other things the world economic situation and India's economic preparedness to meet any future challenges.

The Finance Minister will return on January 24 after his six-day long visit.