World Economic Forum meeting on India begins

NEW DELHI: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Britain's former Premier Gordon Brown are among the top draws along with other corporate honchos at the three-day Indian edition of World Economic Forum, which began today at Gurgaon near here.

Policymakers along with civil society members will also attend the summit, which has chosen 'From Deliberation to Transformation' as this year's there.

About 600 participants including big corporate leaders Sunil Bharti Mittal, Rahul Bajaj, Tulsi Tanti, Adi Godrej and Kris Gopalakrishnan are attending the event.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power Jyotiraditya Scindia, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shivappa Shettar are scheduled to deliberate on various political and economic issues.

Besides, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram would also take part.

The focus of the summit is mainly on issues related to governance, corruption, economic growth and building investors' confidence.

In one of the sessions today, Vikramjit Sahney, Chairman Sun Foundation, said that all three players - civil society, business and government - have to work in synergy for economic development and growth of the country.

He co-chaired a session on 'The New Collaborative Space: Future Scenarios for Civil Society, Business and Government Engagement in India'.

"Infrastructure building, core business practice, public private partnership, friendly environment for international market, transparent and responsible business engagements were some of the areas that needs to worked upon," he said.