The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the union ministry of mines and minerals, government of India and Coal India Ltd has decided to organise the 6th International Mining & Machinery Exhibition (IMME-2001) at Kolkata between November 6-9, 2001. The exhibition is being organised on the basis of the fact that the CII has global partnerships and linkages over 187 counterparts in 87 countries which include the world's leading trade associations.

The exhibition would be spread over four days. The schedule is as follows:

• November 6, 2001: Seminar on German Mining Technology. The seminar would focus on the German mining and mining equipment technology. Technical experts from leading German companies would make presentations.
• November 7-8, 2001: India Mining Summit-International Conference on Mining Technology. The seminar would focus on advances in technology in open cast and underground mining, globalisation of the mining industry, private sector participation in mining, opportunities in Indian mineral sector, Indian mineral policies and procedures. Environmental and safety issue and technological advancement in mining and construction equipment.
• November 9: An interactive session with Coal India Ltd . the session would highlight the technological advancement in Indian Coal mining sector, production trends, procurement of mining equipment in the next 3 to 4 years.

The participants will include almost all mining companies for bauxite, coal, copper, iron ore, limestone, mica and zinc. Mining machinery manufacturers who are eligible to participate are aerial ropeways, air and gas compressors, bucket wheel excavators, bulk handling equipment, bulldozers, cable drag chains, capacitors, circuit breakers, conveyor belting and components, cranes, preparation and mineral dressing equipment, diesel engines, drill bits, explosives, fans and dust collectors, forklift trucks, hand tools, hydraulic excavators, industrial blowers, hoses, pumps, valves, locomotives, lubricants and greases, mine safety equipment, mining shovels and many other mining related machinery.

The newly appointed CII president, who is the vice chairman of the Kolkata-based RPG group, has announced that the confederation will act as a catalyst in attracting investment into the state of West Bengal. As a first step it will revive the taskforce constituted a couple of years ago to prescribe necessary measures to tone up the state's economic growth.

CII"s focus in West Bengal will be in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, infrastructure, vocational training and other knowledge-driven industries. In addition to the mining exhibition, the CII will also be organising an international ICE (information, communication, entertainment) event, and a retail summit in Kolkata in November this year. The retail summit is supposed to be the first of its kind in the country.

The CII is also in the process of preparing industry's position paper for the fourth World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting to be held at Qatar in November 2001. During the financial year 2001-2, the CII will be taking new initiatives in telecom by developing the roadmap for convergence and a composite licence regime. In civil aviation, it would work towards a liberal sky policy and rapid upgrading and privatisation of airports. In the power sector, it will recommend the prescriptions incorporated in the CII-McKinsey and CII-Arthur Andersen studies.