The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Anand Sharma today left for Davos to attend World Economic Forum Annual meeting. During the visit Shri Sharma will meet the USTR Mr Michael Froman and Director General WTO Mr Roberto Azevedo. These meetings assume significance as the leaders are meeting for the first time after the important deal in Bali WTO Ministerial.

Among the important bilateral meetings of Shri Sharma will be meeting with Ms. Emma Bonino, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy; Ms. LiliannePloumen Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; Mr. Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade; Mr. Andrew Robb, Australian Trade & Investment Minister; Mr. Johann Schenider –Amman, Federal Councillor, Switzerland and Dr Philipp Rosler, MD, WEF’s Centre for Regional Strategies and Governmental Relations.

Shri Sharma will meet key global CEO’s from defence, retail, oil and other sectors. He will meet, among others, Mr. Dev Sanyal, Executive Vice President & Group Chief of Staff BP, Plc; Mr. Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive, DIAGEO; Mr. Frans Van Houten, President & CEO, Royal Phillips; Mr. Simon Henry, Global Chief Financial Officer, Shell and Mr Harish Manwani, Global Chief Operating Officer, Unilever.

He will attend sessions on ‘The Manufacturing Context’ where he will put forward the recent decisions in India to promote manufacturing including the decisions taken in the Cabinet and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday. He will also participate in Investment Roundtable and a session titled Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders-The Reshaping of the World: Defining the imperatives for 2014.

Trade diplomacy strengthens through high-level meetings to consolidate post-Bali multilateral cooperation at global forum and promote manufacturing and investment dialogues. High-level trade diplomacy is pursued through bilateral and multilateral meetings to consolidate cooperation following the recent WTO ministerial agreement in Bali. The minister will present recent government decisions to stimulate manufacturing, participate in an Investment Roundtable, and engage global corporate leaders and trade counterparts to advance manufacturing promotion and investment outreach.