CII Communique - February, 2010

eport
Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia,
with Subodh Bhargava, Past President, CII, in New Delhi
the country. He also called for improving connectivity
through additional flights to both countries and elsewhere
around the world.
Mr. Subodh Bhargava, Past President, CII, and Chairman,
Tata Communications Ltd. said there is vast scope
for robust exchanges between the two countries in
infrastructure development and knowledge industries.
Higher education, he said, was a major area of
cooperation and mutual recognition of qualifications
could be a part of the proposed CECA.
CEO’s Round Table
Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak visited Chennai
for the CII Partnership Summit 2010. Coinciding with his
visit, CII, along with MIDA and MATRADE organised
a CEO’s Session with the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Mr Venu Srinivasan, President, CII, and Chairman, TVS
Motor Company, expressed interest in witnessing the
progress on CECA with Malaysia. The implementation
of India ASEAN FTA from this month was a cornerstone
of this aspiration, he said
Dato’ Razak said that Malaysia was keen to explore
the booming opportunities in bilateral trade. The
country, in its efforts to shift from a manufacturing
base to high end technology, would review its policies
to attract private investments in Biotechnology, R &
D, Renewable Energy, Electricity, Medical Equipments,
Construction and IT, he said. Malaysia was taking
necessary steps to reduce 40% of carbon emission
by 2020, he added.
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, remarked
that CII would support initiatives to improve bilateral
investment between both the countries and encourage
annual missions to Malaysia and vice versa.
Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, with Chandrajit Banerjee,
Director General, CII, and Venu Srinivasan, President, CII
New Zealand
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand vigorously defended
its current monetary policy, asserting the inflation
targeting framework had achieved price stability over the
past 20 years. Meanwhile, Labour reiterated its call for
reform, saying "a volatile and often over-valued exchange
rate, and interest rates that are often among the highest
in the developed world, indicate that the current monetary
policy is not serving New Zealand well."
Mr Alan Bollard, Governor, Reserve Bank, also defended the
floating NZ dollar. Looking ahead, he said New Zealand’s
recovery would depend in part on how the major economies
managed the delicate balancing act of exiting from their
stimulatory monetary and fiscal policy settings.
Singapore
A meeting was held between Mr. Venu Srinivasan,
President CII, and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for
Community Development, Youth and Sports, Republic
of Singapore, on 9 January in New Delhi.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth
and Sports, Singapore, with Venu Srinivasan, President, CII
Communiqué February 2010 | 57