Kenneth set to address Canada economic meet

Planning and National Development assistant minister Peter Kenneth is among world leaders invited to address a major economic forum in Canada next week.

Mr Kenneth is expected to leave the country Saturday evening for the International Economic Forum in Montreal that starts on June 11-14.

Organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas, under the theme: “A global economy in transition: new strategies, new partnerships,” it is slated to attract some of the most important international decision makers.

Current issues relating to the world economic situation and geopolitics will be central to the program, according to organisers.

They said the forum will focus on: the financial crisis and its impact on the world economy; the cooperative movement. The United Nations has declared 2012 the international year of the cooperative movement; developing and extracting natural resources: international trade, and in particular the new Americas-European Union economic space, including the Canada-European Union trade agreement.

Others expected to address the forum are Gil Rémillard (Founding Chairman International Economic Forum of the Americas), Alan Greenspan (former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve), and the governors of the central banks of Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico and Canada.

In total, 150 world-renowned speakers will take part in the 18th annual Conference of Montreal.

Delegations from 24 countries have been invited for the forum. Some 3,000 participants are expected during the four-day conference.

“With the European Union facing a recession and the euro zone threatened by fallout from the sovereign debt crisis, the United States is boosting its efforts to firm up a weak recovery in this presidential election year,” Mr Rémillard says.

“The economic growth of Asian countries is slowing due to lower demand from Western countries. This trend is combined with inflationary pressures and the risk of speculative bubbles, especially in China.”

The Conference of Montreal will also enable the world’s various economic and political players present on this occasion to strengthen their relationships and develop new business opportunities.

Mr Kenneth’s visit comes a week after he attended another forum hosted by Kenyans in the UK in London.

The meet is committed to heightening knowledge and awareness of the major issues concerning economic globalisation, with particular emphasis on the relations between the Americas and other
continents.

The Conference also strives to foster exchanges of information and to promote free discussion on major current economic issues by facilitating meetings between political, economic, union and cultural leaders.