Union surface transport minister Rajnath Singh will chair the meeting, to be held at Visakhapatnam, on Sunday. Minister of state for surface transport Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav will also be present during the meeting which will be attended by ministers, who are also members of the council, in the charge of ports of the maritime states.

The two-day meeting, which will begin on Saturday, will be presided over by secretary (shipping) R Vasudevan on the first day. It will be attended by senior officials of surface transport ministry and secretaries of the maritime states and chairmen of port trusts.

Besides amendments to the Act, the meeting will also discuss matters such as establishment of mechanism to ensure coordinated development of major and minor ports, safety and security measures and the scope for joint ventures between major ports and others.

The meeting will also discuss the perspective plan covering 25 years for the entire port sector including major and minor ports.

RITES Ltd's Vision 2020 report is also expected to come up for discussion during the meeting. RITES officials had been making presentation on the report to various ports.

The Union surface transport ministry had commissioned the study in 1997 and it was submitted in 1999.