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Arab World-Kerala conference on Jan. 18

Will focus on improving economic cooperation

KOCHI: The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry will organise a major conference here next month to promote business with the Arab world, Assocham President, Anil K. Aggarwal, said here on Saturday.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on `Mutual funds and investors' protection', Mr. Aggarwal said ambassadors and commercial and economic counsellors of nearly 22 Arab countries will come for the January 18 conference, which will focus on improving economic cooperation between the Arab world and Kerala.

A number of prominent Gulf-based Keralites and commerce and industry chambers also would be invited for the conference, which would give Kerala a golden opportunity to showcase its investment potential in the areas of information technology, health and general tourism, real estate development and others, he said.

Stating that this would be the first time that such a gathering of Arab countries would be taking place in Kerala, Mr. Aggarwal said Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, was being invited to take part in the deliberations.

A day after the Arab Conference, Assocham would hold its managing committee meeting here to assess the economic situation and hold pre-budget discussions.

Nearly 200 top industrial and business houses of the country, including the Singhanias, Tatas, Birlas, Reliance, Hindustan Lever and Thapars, were expected to attend the meeting, he said.

The chamber General Secretary, D. S. Rawat, said the chamber had decided to treat Kerala as the ``focus state'' for the next year and many important events would be organised here to showcase Kerala's under-tapped investment potential to the world.

The Indian mutual fund industry's 30 per cent growth notwithstanding, the fund market is yet to be fully tapped, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) Chairman, A. P. Kurien, said on Saturday.

"Only one per cent of the population has invested in MFs. There are only 20-25 million investors in the country...this is nothing compared to the one billion population and much needs to be done,'' he said at a seminar on mutual funds here.

Only a miniscule proportion of households invest in mutual funds and there was an urgent need to spread the message of mutual funds across the country, about its advantages and risks, Mr. Kurien said in his inaugural address at the fifth national summit on `Multiply your wealth with mutual funds and investors protection' here.

The conference was jointly organised by Assocham, AMFI and Cochin Chamber. — UNI, PTI

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