ADVERTISEMENT
Overseas Indians discuss FDI in retail, governance issues with PM
Jaipur, January 8, 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a meeting with the Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indian, at Jaipur, Rajasthan on January 8, 2012.
Members of the Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians today highlighted issues related to foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and governance and how India could play a more pro-active role in the discourse on globalisation.
At a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, the members also raised issues concerning higher education, particularly faculty development, engaging second and third generation overseas Indians.
They said that, on balance, the tenor of reports about India in the international media showed that the global community maintained a healthy respect for India because of India's strong fundamentals.
The members thanked the Prime Minister for allowing a free exchange of views on matters concerning overseas Indians and appreciated the fact that many of the suggestions made previously by them had been implemented, such as merging of OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) and PIO (Peoples of Indian Origin) cards and facilitating voting rights for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) while certain other issues are under implementation.
Singh thanked the members for their constructive suggestions. He said that, with the slowdown in the United States and Europe, the growth centers may have to shift to the Asia-Pacific.
He was confident that despite many constraints India would return to a sustained high annual growth path of 9-10 per cent in the medium term.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Prime Minister assured them that the Government would reflect on all the suggestions made by the Council members, and engage proactively on all of them.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), an annual gathering of NRIs and PIOs from across the world, which Singh inaugurated earlier in the morning.
Others present on the occasion included Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed and senior secretaries to the Government of India.
Members of the council who attended the meeting included Lord Karan F. Bilimoria, Swadesh Chatterjee, Ela Gandhi, Lord Khalid Hameed, Renu Khator, Kishore Mahbubani, L.N. Mittal, Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Sam Pitroda, Ajit Singh, Neville Joseph Roach, Srinivasa SR Varadhan and Yusuffali M.A.
NNN
ADVERTISEMENT
