AP CM looks for MoUs from all participants

Hyderabad, Jan 10 (INN): With the vision of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to promote investment and increase employment opportunities in Andhra Pradesh, a three-day Partnership Summit, being organised by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Govt. of India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has started here today.

Participating in the well-managed, impeccably conducted summit, the Chief Minister, in his key-note address, promised a resurgence of opportunities in Sunrise Andhra Pradesh. In his speech, the CM used the opportunity to pitch for an image makeover before 1400 representatives, including 300 delegates from 41 nations that participated in the event.

In this regard, he thanked NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant for acclaiming Andhra Pradesh as the driver of country's progress with reference to the recent double-digit growth rate of 11.77 per cent of AP during the first half year of 2015-16 financial year as against national average of 7.2 per cent. According to him, the remarkable progress owed to the planning and the leadership initiatives of the State.

He also pitched the CII and also the Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman to agree to organise the next 23 edition of the partnership summit successively in Visakhapatnam.

'Two or three successive summits of this kind will make us do better. I also invite you all to come to the next edition of the Summit to review the progress,' he said, while thanking CII and the Minister for obliging his request. Expecting to see signing of over many MoUs, he called upon the participants to sign at least one MoU during the three-day summit.

Referring to the state's achievement in getting second rank in recent World Bank Rankings of states in the country for Ease of Doing Business, he said the State would emerge No 1 in the days to come, as the procedures are simplified, ensuring clearance to industries in 21 days.

He further wooed the investors to choose AP as their destination for investments, as it is a strategic location to develop into a business centre because of its 1,000 km - long sea coast.

Comparing the growth in AP with China, he explained how the manufacturing wing has been catering to the requirements of not only the domestic market, but also serve the international markets.

"Andhra Pradesh would emerge one among three premier states in the country by 2022, will be number one state in India by 2029 and would be the world's destination by 2050," he said.

According to him, AP's first-of-its-kind Single Desk Policy is the stand-in to end permission raj, the system of unnecessary rules that hinder the business. The CM also expects Goods and Services Tax (GST) to come into force.

He thanked the incessant support from the union government. Terming it as one of the advantages to AP, the CM expected further support from the centre. In this regard, he made an avid appeal to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on funding liberally to rebuild AP.

Recalling the days when CII Partnership Summit kickstarted in mid 1990s, he said it was he who promoted the summit in his tenure.

"One of earlier editions of the summit was held in a setup temporarily erected like the present venue. Later, Asia's biggest convention centre was built during my regime in Hyderabad," he said.