Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Kamal Nath, will participate in a high-level round table discussion on Africa-Asia Trade & Investment during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Annual Meetings in Singapore, on September 17, 2006.

The round table is being organised by the World Bank as part of its Seminar on the occasion of the World Bank - IMF's Annual Meetings in Singapore.

The round table which has a highly interactive format in the form of Q & A discussions amongst several high profile business and policy leaders from Asia and Africa will focus on the following questions: (a) What pragmatic lessons can African policy makers and businesses learn from Asian experiences in building export competitiveness? (b) As Asian countries work to further improve their investment climates and open access to their markets, what can African governments do to foster the export competitiveness of their domestic private sectors so as to take advantage of such opportunities? (c) How do multinational corporations view the prospects and constraints on African-Asian trade and investment, and how can African countries, like their Asian counterparts, participate in modern global network trade and diversify away from traditional exports? and (d) How can political leaders for African and Asian countries best respond to the greater trade and investment flows to enhance growth of the two regions?

International Monetary Fund