Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation will visit India from December 6 to 9, 2005. This is his fourth visit to India.
His itinerary covers meetings with key government officials in addition to key business leaders, academicians, industry associations and policy makers. Gates' public engagements include a Confederation of Indian Industry hosted CEO Forum in New Delhi on December 7, 2005 and a Developers Forum in Bangalore on December 9, 2005.
Gates visit also coincides with the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on December 6 and 7. The Microsoft Government Leaders Forum is a two-day summit themed 'Leading in a Connected World', which will bring together government leaders across the Asian region to engage in discussions; exchange experiences and best practices related to economic development, governance and education; while examining the role that information and communication technology plays in achieving success in these areas.
Gates will deliver the closing address at the summit on December 7, 2005.
Gates will be visiting Bangalore on December 9 to attend the launch of his company's integrated computing platform - SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006.
During his visit, he would address developers and IT professionals in an event being held at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore. The event is titled 'Bill Gates LIVE in Bangalore -- Ready 2005.'
Elaborating on Microsoft's unique India focus, Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India said, "India is not just the fastest growing subsidiary for Microsoft, but is also one of the few subsidiaries where Microsoft has an end to end presence of its entire business portfolio. Research, product development, application development, services delivery and technical support, it's all here and contributing significantly in the global growth. India is very high on Microsoft's priorities."
"Equally important to us is our effort towards enabling India's growth as an economic superpower and we have made tremendous efforts in the past few years towards this. Our programmes of Project Shiksha, Project Bhasha, Project Jyoti and the unique customized solutions for the Indian market are all geared towards creating a digitally inclusive society. Gates visit will focus further on Realising India's Potential." Venkatesan added.
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