Bengaluru: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be organised in the city for the first time between January 7 and 9.
The state government has already begun preparations for the high profile event and a high level meeting headed by Minister for Industries RV Deshpande was held on Saturday to discuss the preparations for the event.

Addressing media after the meeting, Deshpande said that President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the event. The biennial event organised by the Ministry of External Affairs will be the 15th edition and will be held at the international convention centre in the city. The first day of the event will consist of programmes related to youth and problems faced by NRI students in India and Indian students abroad, he said.

The Prime Minister Modi will attend the event on the second day and will hold a live interaction with Indian community from five countries. The President Pranab Mukherjee will attend on the third and will distribute the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards. Around 2,000 members of the Indian diaspora are expected to attend the event.

Minister for IT/BT and Tourism Priyank Kharge along with MEA officials also attended the meeting.

Investor Forum ready

Briefing about investors forum, Minister Deshpande said that the state had registered the Investors Karnataka Forum to attract investments in the state. The Forum is headed by Deshpande and eight others members are on board as directors. Out of which,  six members are industrialists and the other two are Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) and the Industries Commissioner.