New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS): Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday said that the Indian delegation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will closely interact with global leaders and major corporations at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

According to the minister, the delegation will elucidate the opportunities present in India and understand the needs of the global companies and financial institutions to further enhance their presence in the country.

"In Davos, we will engage with them, talk to them, understand them, forge new relationships with them...," Prabhu said here.

"... We will work with all the global leaders, companies, technologists, financial institutions and financial private equity players, all of them, So that they should know what India is and so that they can align their interests with new India, so that they can also benefit and we can also benefit."

The minister spoke on the sideline of the "Asean-India Business and Investment Meet and Expo" being held here.

The minister informed that Prime Minister Modi will be meeting "top leaders of the world" and will also engage with CEOs through a series of meetings.

The WEF 2018, to be held from January 23-26, will be attended by 350 political leaders, including over 60 heads of state or government, and CEOs of the world's major companies.

Modi will be the first Prime Minister from India to participate in a forum meeting in two decades after the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in 1997.

The main event in Davos will be the keynote speech of Modi at the plenary session on January 23.

An array of central ministers will take part in various group sessions at the WEF 2018.

Besides Prabhu, who leaves for the mega event on Monday night, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as well as the respective Ministers of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and for the External Affairs Ministry M.J. Akbar will also be attending the WEF 2018.

Even two states -- Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra -- will be represented at Davos through their Chief Ministers Chandrababu Naidu and Devendra Fadnavis, respectively.

The theme of AWEF 2018 is "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World", the statement said.

According to observers here, Modi's first visit to WEF is an opportunity to interact with foreign investors following the implementation of the major structural reform of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as well as the demonetisation measure of November 2016.