Friday, May 25, 2012

Najib to chair first Indian Economic Roundtable


Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will chair the first roundtable conference to discuss the Indian economic empowerment initiatives, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department G Palanivel said today.

Najib will also brainstorm with about 100 professionals from various government and private agencies to draw up medium-and long-term roadmaps to uplift the Indian community’s socio-economic status, said Palanivel, who is also MIC president.

The one-day roundtable, hosted by the Prime Minister’s Department through the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), will deliberate on a series of economic and social transformation agendas that the government has drawn up for the Indian community.

“I will be preparing a working paper within the next two weeks and will meet the prime minister for a date. We expect to have the event by late June or early July,” said Palanivel, who is also the Indian Community Economic Transformation Programme Unit head, told reporters after chairing the first discussions on the roundtable.

Palanivel said the discussions group has proposed three “basic and reachable” roadmaps rather than major and long-term ones.

“A basic roadmap will help me explain to the prime minister that these are the socio-economic issues that the Malaysian Indians are currently facing and these are what the government should include in its transformation agenda.

“The prime minister will then address the issues in the conference and make some good announcements for the well-being of the Indian community.

“The discussions group has also proposed to me that we must focus on priority areas and that we should have comprehensive programmes for implementation from short-term until the next 10 years,” he said.

Palanivel said the discussions group will comprise professionals, critical thinkers, educationists, former senior civil servants, corporate figures from the private sector and ministry officials.

Experts and senior officials from the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI), Securities Commission, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Petronas, International Trade and Industry Ministry and Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry have been invited to participate in the discussions.

Source - Bernama

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