Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, eminent economists and development experts will discuss Asia's economic growth and challenges at a seminar being organised here to mark the India's 25 years of partnership with multilateral funding agency ADB.
The forum, to be held on October 17, is organised by the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and would also include launch of two publications that showcase development projects initiated by both partners, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
According to Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, who oversees the work of ADB and other multilateral development agencies in India, this event is an effort to bring to Delhi some of the best minds in Asia and to discuss the future of Asia.
The forum would include panel discussions that will bring together eminent economists and development experts from India and abroad to debate the specifics of both national agendas, as well as regional and global agendas to ensure that Asia's growth is sustained and inclusive.
The twin challenges of sustaining growth and making sure it is inclusive are actually quite intimately related, ADB's India Resident Mission Country Director Hun Kim said, adding, expanding the ranks of the middle class, while ensuring at the same time that economies do not get stuck in a 'middle income trap', are key challenges for developing Asia.
The panels will feature eminent Indian economists Shankar Acharya (Honorary Professor, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations), Kaushik Basu (Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance), and Professor Arvind Panagariya (Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, Columbia University).
Also, ADB Chief Economist Changyong Rhee, Ambassador Kyung Wook Hur (Korea's Ambassador to the OECD), Hidetoshi Nishimura (Executive Director, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia) and Than Nyun (Former Chairman of the Myanmar Public Service Commission) would also be present.
ADB started its lending operations in India in 1986 and has so far advanced loans worth USD 24 billion for over 150 projects. It currently operates in more than 20 states in India.
