Geneva-based International Trade Centre, which has specialisation in trade and investment data, has showed keen interest in extending its expertise for the development of the proposed World Trade Centres by Andhra Pradesh government in Visakhapatnam and Amaravati.
This figured during the discussion between ITC Executive Director Arancha Gonzalez and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at the CII Partnership Summit-cum-Sunrise AP Investment Meet which concluded here on Saturday.
Ms. Gonzalez, an expert in international trade issues with 20 years of experience, serves at the ITC, which has been the joint development agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, since September 2013. She commended the Chief Minister for the achievements he had made in Andhra Pradesh including the ranking of the State on the ease of doing business index. The World Bank has ranked AP as No. 1 State in India.The importance of the monitoring and tracking of results and gaps in implementation that the Chief Minister undertook through an integrated log frame was particularly recognised by the team led by her which held bilateral talks at the summit.
The ITC official briefed the Chief Minister on ITC’s work on SITA (Supporting Indian Trade and Interest for Africa) and how it was continuing to increase business linkages between India and countries in East Africa.
A top official of the ITC told The Hindu on Saturday that the ED and the Chief Minister had discussed areas of potential collaboration in using knowledge and expertise in ITC to help map export potential and diversification and benchmarking of trade and investment promotion organisations.
The official said Mr. Naidu was particularly pleased to work on the benchmarking given the importance of this for improving and innovating trade and investment promotion activities.
It was agreed that the State Economic Development Board would be the contact point for collaboration with the ITC including on the benchmarking.
