Massachusetts: India's Chief Planning Commissioner Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia will open the inaugural B&K Securities MIT India Forum with a public lecture on September 9 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

His talk, titled "Toward India 2020: Challenges and Opportunities", will discuss his role in advancing India's recent policies of liberalization.

The B&K Securities MIT India Forum is part of the MIT India Initiative, an Institute-wide effort to look at new ways of fostering MIT's century-long ties with India.

The initiative is led by Professor Abhijit Banerjee and Professor Charles Cooney, who launched the Forum as a way to stimulate interest in and knowledge about India, and to discuss and debate the most pressing issues facing India today.

Following the lecture, Dr. Ahluwalia will meet faculty leaders to discuss the next phase of the MIT-India relationship.

"So now is the time to convene more conversations with India, one of MIT's most important global partners. Dr. Ahluwalia's visit has generated tremendous excitement both on campus and in the greater Boston community", commented Professor Philip S. Khoury, Associate Provost.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia spent 11 years of service with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. before returning to India as an economic advisor.

He has previously held positions as India's Finance Secretary, Secretary of Economic Affairs, and Special Advisor to the Indian Ministry of Finance.

In 2007, Dr. Ahluwalia became a member of the Group of Thirty, an international body of the world's most senior and influential economists.