AP is the best state to associate with: CM

Hyderabad, Jan 18 (INN): On the 3rd day of his 6-day visit to Davos, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held his first meeting on Wednesday with Amin H. Nasser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Aramco.

The Chief Minister mentioned that Andhra Pradesh is endowed with rich natural resources and also spoke on the opportunities available for investment in AP.

During the discussion Nasser and his team said that they are interested in starting a refinery in India.

The Chief Minister explained about AP's interest in petrochemicals. He also informed them about the Krishna Godavari basin, the idea of Petroleum University, the technology and the skilled man force that the state has.

Aramco representatives said that they want to start an collaboration preferably with government, to which the Chief Minister said that possibilities could be explored.

The Chief Minister informed the members that land and water will be provided without any hitches.

The representatives have asked the Chief Minister to send a team to Saudi to look at their facilities to which the CM has agreed. He has asked the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board to coordinate. The company representatives will send their team to Andhra Pradesh within 15 days to study the possibilities after which the AP team will visit Saudi.

The Chief Minister also invited them to get involved in the petroleum university.

Later, the Chief Minister held a meeting with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Paytm.

Vijay, while explaining his new business initiatives, told the Chief Minister that he is keen in brining every latest initiative of the Paytm to the state of Andhra Pradesh. He mentioned that, Starting a bank, 500 million accounts by 2020 and digitally Paytm Bank at every village are some of the targets the company has set. He also added that support will be extended to self employed groups by giving small loans.

During the conversation, the Chief Minister suggested that a digital university should be started in a private public partnership mode and that Andhra Pradesh will be a best partner to associate with.

Chief Minister and Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia capital met and discussed ways of collaboration between the state and their company.

Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm which mainly focuses on the technology industry. They started investing in India 11 years ago. The Chief Minister invited Sequoia capital to invest in Andhra Pradesh too.

The Chief Minister suggested that they should identify projects in Andhra Pradesh and extend funding.

'While you concentrate more on technology, and our government encouraging innovation and incubation, we can work together,' said the CM.

Meeting with Fujitsu

In a meeting with Fujitsu's Corporate Executive officer, Nobuhiko Sasaki, the Chief Minster explained the various technologies being used for development and welfare programmes in the state.

CM showed the Core Dashboard to Nobuhiko and explained how everything is monitored real time.

The Chief Minister enquired if they would provide sensors to collect data on soil moisture, and comprehensive devices for water level, pollution, wind speed and soil quality for increasing agricultural productivity.

The representatives from Fujitsu informed that they would send a team to Amaravati to study Andhra Pradesh's requirements.

Meeting with Jonathan Schmidt from LuminWorld

Jonathan Schmidt said that their company can supply technology for clean energy technologies even with coal.

They also have solar powered salt water desalination technology and the company is also into waste management.

The Chief Minister showed interest in waste management and said that the cost of desalination should be worked out.

The group will visit AP in February to explore the opportunities.