ICPE and DPE to Upgrade and Expand Cooperation

DG Dr Šalej and Acting DDG Mr Zver met with Bhaskar Chatterjee, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Public Enterprise. Secretary Chatterjee is the current President of the ICPE Council.

The Center's overall strategic objectives and ways in which they were being pursued were discussed in detail.

Further, an agreement was reached on the language for an MoU, which may significantly expand cooperation between the Government of India and the ICPE over the next two years.

The agreed programme would provide education and training on key strategic challenges for Indian public sector enterprise executives, alongside their colleagues from the EU and other rapidly emerging economies, and establish the ICPE as an intergovernmental knowledge hub for public sector enterprises (PSEs) in the heart of Europe.

Dr Šalej and Secretary Chatterjee are expected to sign the MoU shortly in Delhi during a special ceremony devoted to the occasion. Relevant ministers from both India and Slovenia, as the Center's host country, will be invited to be present for the signing in Delhi.

It was further agreed that the ICPE would be celebrating its 35th anniversary on 14-16 June 2010, inviting all founding members to participate in a high-level seminar dedicated to 'PSEs for the 21st Century'.

The seminar will bring together the world's leading academics, officials and business practitioners to contemplate and discuss the important role PSEs can play in developing national economies in a globalized world over the next few decades.