Modi, Jaitley preside at CEO conclave

Solidarity on anti-terrorism apart, closed-door meet sees talk on investment blocks, possibilities

The much-anticipated Global CEO Conclave led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned out to be a closed-door meeting between about 170 chief executives of companies, with other country and state premiers and government officials.

Earlier, the state government had planned to broadcast the conclave. According to Gujarat government sources, the plan to broadcast it live on PM Modi's YouTube channel was also dropped at the last minute.

Held late in the evening, after the inaugural ceremony of the 7th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the meeting mostly saw discussion around investment opportunities in India and other participating nations, government sources privy to the development stated.

Modi actually came late into the conclave. Much of it was led by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, along with colleagues Nirmala Sitharaman (commerce and industry), Piyush Goyal (power, coal and energy) and Jayant Sinha, his own ministerial deputy.

According to government sources, apart from one-on-one and business meetings, the event also saw PM Modi, US Secretary of State John Kerry and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim make short speeches on global issues and international ties.

Representatives of global entities present included those of Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Sunedison, MIT, Emerson Electric, Airbus, Ford Motor, Total SA, Alstom, RasGas, Honda Motor Corp, China Steel Corp, Samsun, Ikea, Intel Corp, Walmart, Cairn Energy and BlackBerry Corp, government sources added.

In his remarks at the CEO Conclave, the Modi said the time had come for all humanitarian forces to join hands to end the menace of terrorism.

His comments came on a day when around 40 world leaders marched through Paris to rally for unity and freedom of expression, and to honour 17 victims of three days of terrorist attacks.

Emphasising the need for zero tolerance on terrorism, Modi said "this requires political will". In his meeting with Kerry, discussion included cooperation in this regard, beside the coming visit of US President Barack Obama. Anti-terrorist co-operation was also a theme in his meeting with Canadaian minister of citizenship and immigration, Chris Alexander. Earlier in the day, Modi had expressed solidarity with the people of France, coming to terms with the terrorist attack on them this past week. "As we see it (terrorism) spread around the world, let us pledge to work together to make sure it will not succeed against the life that we have all gathered here to build, and the values we stand for," he said.

Kerry said no act of terrorism would ever stop "the march of freedom".