Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani will inaugurate the four-day Confederation of Indian Industries Partnership Summit 2003 on Sunday evening.

The summit is in its ninth edition and is being held in Hyderabad for the second time. The theme of the summit this year is 'networking business-linking nations'.

About 1,000 participants, including 250 from overseas, are expected to attend, with more than 75 eminent people from India and abroad scheduled to address the summit in over 50 sessions.

While Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Major Industries Minister K Vidyadhar Rao will speak on 'Invest in Andhra Pradesh', Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna will talk about 'The International Trade Policy Agenda: Going Forward'.

Over 20 business delegations are expected with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, China, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and South Africa being some of the participating countries.

Prominent international speakers include Supachai Panitchpakdi [director-general of the World Trade Organisation], Josef Hattig [senator, economic affairs and ports ministry for the state of Bremen, Germany], Patricia Hewitt [secretary for trade and industry, UK], and David Kilgour [member of Parliament, secretary of state (Asia-pacific), Canada]

Union ministers who will address the summit include External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Minister for Commerce and Industry Arun Shourie, and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.