NEW DELHI – India will seek to reassure the business community with aninvestment summit in the Jammu and Kashmir territory in October, theprinciple secretary for industry and commerce said Tuesday.

The three-day summit will begin on October 12, Naveen Choudhary was citedas saying at a press briefing in Jammu by daily The Hindulink.

Choudhary said the gathering in the former state’s most popular city ofSrinagar will give it “an opportunity to showcase its strength and economicpotential and allay fears of foreign investors.”

It comes a day after Reliance Industries Ltd, an Indian multinationalconglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, said it will set up a specialtask force for investing in the occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, andmake a number of announcements in due course.

“Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal, we stand committed tosupport people of Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh in all their developmentalneeds. Hence, we will create a special task force and you will see severalannouncements for Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh region in our developmentalinitiatives in the coming months,” RIL Chairman and Managing DirectorMukesh Ambani saidlink on Monday.

The Indian government revoked the Himalayan region’s statehood and specialstatus last week citing a rise in separatism among its mostly Muslimpopulation, and also announced bifurcation of the State in two UnionTerritories. China and Pakistan protested the change in the status quo.