Hasina, Sania to co-chair WEF's India summit

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 global slowdown.

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.