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Sheikh Hasina, Sania Mirza to co-chair WEF's India Economic Summit

The two-day WEF's India Economic Summit, scheduled for October 3-4, will be held by Geneva-based WEF in collaboration with industry body CII under the theme of 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'.

Sheikh Hasina and Sania Mirza
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Published : Aug 20, 2019, 7:03 PM IST

Updated : Aug 20, 2019, 7:44 PM IST

New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and tennis star Sania Mirza will be among co-chairs for India Economic Summit to be held here in October by the World Economic Forum, where hundreds of Indian and global leaders would discuss India's role in South Asia and on the world stage.

Hasina and Mirza will be joined by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's Executive Vice-Chairperson Shobana Kamineni and Sequoia Capital India's Managing Director Shailendra Singh as other co-chairs.

Mirza will co-chair the summit as a sportsperson and the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia.

The two-day summit, scheduled for October 3-4, will be held by Geneva-based WEF in collaboration with industry body CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) under the theme of 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the meeting will address strategic issues of regional significance under four thematic pillars - the new geopolitical reality and new social, ecological and technological systems.

The WEF said India as the fastest-growing large economy in the world has demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience amid the global slowdown.

Read More: PSU banks to introduce home, auto loans on 'PSB Loans in 59 Minutes' portal

The country's and the region's role is critical to the sustainability of global economic growth and if this is to be Asia's century, the role of South Asia will be indispensable, it added.

Besides, the rise of advanced technologies has the potential to create economic and social value, and bolster India's goal of maintaining its growth momentum while attaining greater social inclusion and regional cooperation.

The WEF, which hosts its annual summit in Swiss Alps resort town of Davos every year, said the India meeting will convene key leaders from government, private sector, academia, and civil society to facilitate dialogue on policy tools, business models, industry standards, norms and guidelines for boosting the dynamism of India to attain its growth potential.

The meeting will also focus on accelerating the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and optimally governing them to assist India to leapfrog to an advanced stage of development and provide the world with replicable proof of a successful model, affecting billions of people globally.

Top leaders expected to attend the meeting include senior ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Hardeep Singh Puri.

Besides, a number of top industry leaders including Rahul Bajaj, Sanjiv Bajaj, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Adi Godrej, Ajay Singh, Sunil Mittal, and Nandan Nilekani are expected to participate.

New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and tennis star Sania Mirza will be among co-chairs for India Economic Summit to be held here in October by the World Economic Forum, where hundreds of Indian and global leaders would discuss India's role in South Asia and on the world stage.

Hasina and Mirza will be joined by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's Executive Vice-Chairperson Shobana Kamineni and Sequoia Capital India's Managing Director Shailendra Singh as other co-chairs.

Mirza will co-chair the summit as a sportsperson and the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia.

The two-day summit, scheduled for October 3-4, will be held by Geneva-based WEF in collaboration with industry body CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) under the theme of 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the meeting will address strategic issues of regional significance under four thematic pillars - the new geopolitical reality and new social, ecological and technological systems.

The WEF said India as the fastest-growing large economy in the world has demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience amid the global slowdown.

Read More: PSU banks to introduce home, auto loans on 'PSB Loans in 59 Minutes' portal

The country's and the region's role is critical to the sustainability of global economic growth and if this is to be Asia's century, the role of South Asia will be indispensable, it added.

Besides, the rise of advanced technologies has the potential to create economic and social value, and bolster India's goal of maintaining its growth momentum while attaining greater social inclusion and regional cooperation.

The WEF, which hosts its annual summit in Swiss Alps resort town of Davos every year, said the India meeting will convene key leaders from government, private sector, academia, and civil society to facilitate dialogue on policy tools, business models, industry standards, norms and guidelines for boosting the dynamism of India to attain its growth potential.

The meeting will also focus on accelerating the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and optimally governing them to assist India to leapfrog to an advanced stage of development and provide the world with replicable proof of a successful model, affecting billions of people globally.

Top leaders expected to attend the meeting include senior ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Hardeep Singh Puri.

Besides, a number of top industry leaders including Rahul Bajaj, Sanjiv Bajaj, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Adi Godrej, Ajay Singh, Sunil Mittal, and Nandan Nilekani are expected to participate.

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PRI ESPL INT
.WASHINGTON FES9
FRANCE-DIGITAL TAX
Google, Facebook, Amazon decry French digital tax as 'discriminatory'
         Washington, Aug 20 (AFP) American tech giants Amazon, Facebook and Google have joined forces to decry the French digital tax as retroactive and discriminatory.
         President Donald Trump is considering retaliating against the tax -- approved July 11 -- with punitive tariffs on French wine imports, prompting an investigation by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).
         The so-called GAFA companies appeared on Monday at a USTR hearing on possible countermeasures and were unanimous in their complaints, calling the tax a "troubling precedent."
         The tax, which Washington considers unfair, adds yet another bone of contention to the transatlantic trade disputes that now also include steel, aluminum, automobiles, aircraft and agriculture.
         The proposed three percent tax on total annual revenues of companies that provide services to French consumers applies only to the largest tech companies, which are mostly US-based.
         For Amazon, where France represents the second largest European market for e-commerce, the levy "creates a double taxation," said Peter Hiltz, director of tax planning for the online retail giant.
         Some 58 per cent of Amazon's sales are through partner companies, which stand to take the hit.
         The tax "negatively impacts Amazon and thousands of small and medium businesses," Hiltz said.
         "Amazon cannot absorb the expenses," and the company "already informed partners that their fee will increase starting October 1," he added.          Some internet heavyweights have taken advantage of low-tax jurisdictions in places like Ireland while paying next to nothing in other countries where they derive huge profits.
         The United States has been pushing for an overarching agreement on taxation of digital commerce through the Group of 20 economic forum, but France pressed ahead on its own.
         It is "an imperfect solution to address an outdated tax system," said Jennifer McCloskey of the Information Technology Industry Council, which supports a multilateral agreement under the auspices of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
         Hiltz agreed, saying the companies believe "an international agreement under the OECD is reachable." The tax will apply to about 30 companies with at least USD28 million (25 million euros) in sales in France and USD831 million worldwide.
         But it does not apply to other internet operators like media companies.
The tax touches "a handful of internet business when every sector is becoming digital," Google's Nicholas Bramble said at the hearing.
         Taxing only this part of the industry "doesn't make sense." The companies also complained that the tax is retroactive, since it will apply from the beginning of 2019 -- something they have "never seen" before, according to Alan Lee of Facebook. (AFP)
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Last Updated : Aug 20, 2019, 7:44 PM IST
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