FM travels to London, Paris, Doha to attract investment

During the trip, he will hold discussions on various bilateral, investment related issues

Continuing his roadshows to promote India as an investment destination, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday left for a five-day visit to the UK, France and Qatar.

During the trip, he will hold discussions on various bilateral and investment-related issues.

During the first leg of his visit, the finance minister will arrive in London this evening and would participate in the Sixth Ministerial India–UK Economic and Financial Dialogue tomorrow. Macro-economic issues, trade and investment-related matters, infrastructure financing and financial services and regulations and insurance and pension sector issues will be discussed during the meet. There will also be a discussion on current financial sector reforms by British and Indian regulatory bodies.

Chidambaram will also have a meeting with his UK counterpart, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. The two leaders are likely to discuss about the G-20 Clearing Committee on over-the-counter derivatives, priority sector lending, Bangalore-Mumbai economic corridor and visa issues, among others.

Chidambaram will also visit the Crossrail Tunnels with Osborne. Later, the finance minister will hold a one-to-one meeting with leading UK investors.

Other members of the Indian delegation include Shaktikanta Das, additional secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Anand Sinha, deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India; and Arvind Kumar, joint secretary, Department of Financial Services, among others. The UK delegation will include Charlie Bean, deputy governor, Bank of England; Vince Cable, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills; Lord Paul Deighton, commerce secretary to the Treasury; and Shona Riach, director-international, Treasury.

On Friday, the finance minister will arrive in Paris for a meeting with leading investors. He will also hold discussions with OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria during his one day stay in the French capital.

Next day, Chidambaram will arrive in Doha to hold discussions with Yousef Hussan Kamal, Minister of Economic and Finance, Qatar.

He will also meet the CEO of Qatar Investment Authority and CEO of Qatari Business Association among others. Besides, he will have an investors’ meet which will include CEOs of leading Qatar companies and banks, CEOs of pension funds and top investors.

Chidambaram earlier held similar investor meets in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Germany, Canada and the US to attract foreign investments.