In the framework of Memorandum of cooperation between International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) and PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), the international investors' programs invest to Slovenija (investo.si) and International Investors'Network (investo.international) were presented in India by ICPE Acting Director General, Mr. Janez Podobnik. ICPE ADG joined the Slovenian government and business delegation to India, led by Mr. Radovan Žerjav, M.Sc, Minister of Economic Development and Technology, The Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

On the 27^th and 28^th of January, the delegation attended the 2013 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit in Agra, joining the over 1200 business representatives from India and worldwide delegations. They met with Shri Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Shri Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. On January the 29^th, the delegation attended the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) India-Slovenia Business forum and visited the CII premises in New Delhi.

As the delegation continued with B2B meetings in Kolkata, ICPE ADG met in New Delhi with representatives of the Government of India and individual institutions, with which ICPE had closely cooperated in the past.

On Wednesday, the 30^th of January, ICPE ADG visited the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and met with Dr S. K. Sarkar, Additional Secretary, and Smt. Deepika Lohia Aran, Deputy Secretary. ICPE ADG shortly presented the recent restructuring and improvement of ICPE's educational programmes and the ICPE plan of activities with regard to the international MBA and short-term training programmes for the Government of India. DOPT will offer their support to ICPE programmes in agreement with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), responsible for ICPE, and the key government institutions, which will enrol their officials to ICPE's programmes.

Late afternoon, ICPE ADG, Minister Žerjav and HE Mr. Janez Premože, Ambassador of Slovenia to India, met with Shri Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, State Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and ICPE Council President Shri O. P. Rawat, as well as Joint Secretary DPE, Shri Ashok K. Pavadia. The possibilities of strengthened economic cooperation between the two countries were discussed, while underlining the crucial role of ICPE in intensifying and opening new possibilities for concrete cooperation

On Thursday, the 31^st of January, ICPE ADG and HE Premože met with Secretary O. P. Rawat and Joint Secretary Ashok K. Pavadia to discuss in more detail the near future activities of ICPE in cooperation with the Government of India. Secretary Rawat specifically noted the immense potential for cooperation within the energy sector and the central role which ICPE could play in this field with the support of the Government of India and the Government of Slovenia. Further on, firm grounds were laid for the conduct of short-term training programmes in the period of the following six months. They discussed the details of the international postgraduate MBA programme, which is to be re-launched in September 2013 in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. It is expected that 20 candidates will be nominated by the Government of India to enrol in the ICPE MBA programme in this renewed programme first study year (2013/2014).

Later on, ICPE ADG met with Prof. R. K. Mishra, Director of the Institute of Public Enterprise from Hyderabad. ICPE and IPE have a signed Memorandum of Understanding, which broadly defines the scope and content of cooperation between the two institutions. They specifically discussed the details of organising training and educational programmes on e-Governance, commencing joint research projects, as well as the organisation of the joint conference on Public-Private Partnerships with a focus on energy issues in October 2013 at IPE.

On Friday, February the 1^st, ICPE ADG held the inauguration address at the "Board Orientation Program", organised by IPE in New Delhi and attended by management boards representatives from major public sector enterprises, as well as private companies. ICPE ADG was also introduced to Shri T. K. A. Nair, Advisor at the Prime Minister's Office, who
addressed the participants on behalf of the Government of India.

In the afternoon, ICPE ADG visited the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) in Faridabad, Haryana. NIFM is a premier Indian research and teaching institution in the field of financial management, supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India, it was a long-term partner of ICPE and numerous programmes were organised at ICPE for NIFM participants. Together with the NIFM Director, Shri Anupam Kulshreshtha, and Dr Namrata Agrawal, ICPE ADG set solid ground for a re-start of the short-term training programmes in the following months, as well as explored the potential for joint research and faculty or student exchange programmes between the two institutions.

The Memorandum between ICPE and VZMD was signed as part of the efforts for further successful and closer cooperation between ICPE and the international investors' programs invest to Slovenija (investo.si) and International Investors'Network (invest-to.net), while there are additional options of expanding the international activities of VZMD also as part of the plans and presence of ICPE in Africa, Asia and South-East Europe.

The aim of cooperation is to develop common content, through which alliances between ICPE member states and VZMD, as well as between international organizations, of which VZMD is an active member (World Federation of Investors – WFI and European Federation of Financial Service Users - EuroFinuse), and their member states (55 national organizations of shareholders and investors). The emphasis is on the areas of active shareholding, education, strengthening entrepreneurship, investments and social responsibility. (To view investo.tv's video report from the recent international conference ICPE and Knowledge Economy Network (KEN) about the Benefits and Challenges of Public-Private Partnerships for Improving Energy Efficiency, click the picture to the right).