Overwhelming response to CII Partnership Summit-cum-Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet and the record number of MoUs signed by investors has given a big boost to the campaign to promote Brand Vizag as a happening city.
As many as 2,000 delegates with 350 from overseas, eight foreign trade ministers and secretaries and eight Union Ministers took part in the deliberations with many taking to social media to express their impressions on the beauty of Vizag. Incidentally, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu tweeted saying he was very impressed with artistic wall paintings in the city as part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
“The summit was a resounding success. Many delegates who came for the first time to the city were impressed with its neatness and the investment ecosystem in AP,” said Special Chief Secretary and IT Adviser to Chief Minister J.A. Chowdary.
He told The Hindu that the sun-kissed beaches, green-capped hillocks and the facilities available in the city impressed the delegates who came here to attend the summit from across the globe.
Execution of projects
“We all got very clear instructions from the Chief Minister to work on executing all the projects announced to enable many aspiring young people of AP to get employment opportunities. Hence, 2017 will be the year of execution of MoU projects,” Mr. Chowdary said.
CII-AP Chairman G.S. Shiv Kumar said the hosting of second Partnership Summit after holding big events like International Fleet Review had generated a lot of interest world-wide on the beautiful looks of AP’s largest metropolitan city.
He said the signing of 665 MoUs with an investment proposal of ₹10.54 lakh crore was a big boost to Visakhapatnam as a host city for international events and hoped that the work on international convention centre as promised by the Chief Minister would start on a fast-track mode.
Executive Director of Geneva-based International Trade Centre Arancha Gonzalez, who attended the summit and held talks with the Chief Minister said: “During these times of doubts in certain parts of the work on the value of trade I have seen here in Andhra Pradesh that trade is at the centre of their growth strategy and is having a real impact on job creation and the ease of doing business.”
Huge potential
She said: “AP, like the rest of India, has huge potential to move up the value chain by investing in small and medium enterprises to create more value addition and better paid jobs. ITC looks forward to working with the Chief Minister and the Government of India to ensure trade leads to impact on the ground.”
