PM Modi to make major worldwide address to India Global Week in UK

PTI, Jul 7, 2020, 6:46 PM IST

London: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make a major worldwide address, expected to focus on India’s trade and foreign investment prospects, at India Global Week 2020 organised in the UK from Thursday.

Modi, who will connect remotely to the event pitched as one of the biggest international events on India’s globalisation, is likely to lay out numerous investment and manufacturing opportunities that India has on offer as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As the world battles to emerge out of the shadows of COVID-19, India with its immense talent pool, its technological prowess, and growing appetite for leadership has a central role to play in global affairs. I am sure the Indian Prime Minister’s message to the world will resonate with the #BeTheRevival: India and a Better New World theme of India Global Week,” said Manoj Ladwa, Chairman and CEO of the India Inc. Group, the UK-headquartered media house behind the annual event.

The three-day summit, being held on a virtual platform given the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, had earlier confirmed senior Cabinet ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Railways and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Ccivil Aviation and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Skill Development Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, among some of the prominent speakers from India.

On the UK side, Prince Charles will be making a special address at the event and the British government is lining up a high-profile set of speakers, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.

Gaitri Kumar will also be addressing the event later this week, among her inaugural engagements as the new Indian High Commissioner to the UK.

Besides a focus of the India-UK bilateral ties and much-anticipated enhanced special relationship in a post-Brexit world, there are a series of country-specific sessions scheduled to cover India’s ties with countries such as the US, Australia, Singapore and Japan.

The India Inc. Group said that the wide range of around 75 sessions during India Global Week 2020 between July 9 and 11 will cover subject areas such as geopolitics, business, emerging technologies, banking and finance, pharma, defence and security, and arts and culture.

The line-up will also include in-conversation segments, including between Indian-origin Hollywood actor Kunal Nayyar and Isha Foundation Founder Sadhguru, and journalist Barkha Dutt and Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The organisers expect an estimated 250 senior business and strategic expert speakers to attract a worldwide audience of over 5,000 people over the course of the summit.