Indian Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Makes West Coast Appearance

STANFORD, Calif., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Indian Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will give an address on the Stanford campus on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at 4:30pm. The Stanford Center for International Development (SCID) and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) are hosting the event which will take place in Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall.

Minister Chidambaram played a pivotal role along with the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the historic opening up and liberalization of the Indian economy. In addition to serving as finance minister in the current government, he was finance minister in 1996-1998, minister of state in the Ministry of Commerce in 1995-1996 and 1991-1992, minister of state for internal security in 1986-1989, and minister of state in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in 1986-1989. In 1985, he was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Commerce. He was first elected to the lower house (Lok Sabha) of the Indian Parliament in the general election of 1984, and re-elected until 2004. Minister Chidambaram has achieved success as a lawyer and businessman prior to entering politics. In 1969, he enrolled as an advocate in Madras High Court and established a successful law practice. He has practiced in the Supreme Court and in various high courts in India. He is a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Illiakkiya Chintanai (Literary Association) of Chennai, India. He obtained a bachelor of science at Presidency College, Chennai, India, and bachelor of law at the Law College, Madras University. Subsequently, he received a master of business administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School. This event will be an opportunity to listen to and interact with one of India's key economic policy makers and political leaders.

SCID is a research center where faculty work on economic policies in developing and transition countries. They work to advise and influence the international economic system by working with policy makers. At present, SCID has programs on China, India, Latin America, and International Economics. The center also sponsors research projects, conferences, and seminars that explore economic policy topics in international and development economics.

SIEPR is an economic policy research organization and is non-partisan in political orientation. SIEPR scholars conduct studies on important economic policy issues in the United States and other countries. SIEPR's goal is to inform and advise policy makers and the public and to guide their decisions with sound policy analysis. In the course of their research, SIEPR faculty train, educate, and support Ph.D. students as future economic policy analysts.