Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Visit to Zurich and Davos to promote Investment in Andhra Pradesh, 19-22 January 2016
An Andhra Pradesh Investors Meet was organised on 19th January in Zurich by the Indian Embassy and the Swiss India Chamber of Commerce under Mr. Francesco Gherzi, Chairman SICC. Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, met several business leaders keen to invest in Andhra Pradesh at the Meet. Participants had closely followed the mega announcements at the Sunrise AP Investment Summit in Vizag.
CM met with a delegation of the leading Swiss solar panel manufacturing company, Meyer Burger, who are keen on investing in India. Nüesch Development, a company with 20 years experience in sustainable urbanisation, have evinced interest to construct low-energy buildings. BKW Engineering also discussed their interest in energy projects in the State. Gherzi Textile Unit made a mega textile investment proposal. Verde International AG gave a presentation on their novel eco-friendly technology that doesn’t require dam storage capacity. Power storage devices manufacturer, Leclanche was interested in investing in a big manufacturing facility. Ethical Coffee Company informed that they aim to target the Asian market and attain a market value of $1 billion in 7 years. They were welcomed to set up base in Andhra.
The Chief Minister expressed his optimism that some of these meetings would result in investments in the Sunrise state, providing employment and boosting the State’s economy. At the World Economic Forum too, he explained that “Andhra Pradesh means business”. Elaborating on the opportunities and advantages of Andhra Pradesh at Davos, Shri Naidu welcomed them to set up their offices in Amaravati, the People’s Capital. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto, Vishal Sikka, CEO, Infosys, Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Suzlon Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, Suzlon were among the 100 CEOs who attended the event. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Director-General, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee said Andhra Pradesh evoked a lot of interest among business leaders across the world. Chief Minister Naidu requested him to facilitate investment flows and set up centres of Innovation for creating a skilled workforce. After a meeting with Dominic Barton, Global CEO, McKinsey & Company, the Chief Minister said they will bring in best practices for structuring the capital city and market tourism and investment potentials. Shri Chandrababu Naidu recalled that McKinsey had played a vital role in Vision-2020 for the united Andhra Pradesh State. McKinsey is serving as a consultant to the Government of Andhra Pradesh to help mobilise private and global financing for Amravati.
Prakash Lohia of Indorama Synthetics met the Chief Minister and evinced interest to invest $500 million in the State. He said Indorama is the largest producer of plastic bottles and surgical gloves in the world, with plants in Indonesia and Africa. He too was welcomed warmly by Hon’ble Chief Minister. A team from Indorama will visit Andhra Pradesh in March to conduct a study.
Shinichi Kitaoka, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said India is back in focus for them now, elaborating on the advantages of demographic dividend, technology penetration and huge market demand. The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh offered a lot of opportunities to Japan, including the construction of the People’s Capital – Amaravati. Phase I of construction would be completed by 2018. He also invited Kitaoka to visit Andhra Pradesh to which he gladly agreed.
John T. Chambers, Executive Chairman, CISCO, said they will set up a joint working group to study the requirements and the opportunities. Explaining various e-initiatives launched by the State government, the Chief Minister said he aims to provide 15 to 20 Mbps connection to each household.
Interesting conversations resulted in massive investment proposals.
CM also had great conversations with Hon’ble Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickramasinghe, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and heads of think tanks.
Mr. Mistry proposed to make a massive investment in the state. With RBI governor Mr. Rajan, he had a deep and interesting conversation about how to bring innovations in policy making. It was a sheer delight to have a chat with him on macro-level issues. Later, CM met with global think-tank KPMG chairman for Netherlands Jurgen van Breukelen and discussed about incorporating Netherlands’ experience of coastal development in AP.
His meeting with Nestle CEO Paul Bulke was interesting as they discussed about opportunities in the dairy and food processing sector. Discussions were held with members of the World Economic Forum where they agreed to partner with the State government in making agriculture profitable and sustainable.
Some of the other meetings included meeting with Cambridge University and Stanford University.
CM explained about the initiatives taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in irrigation initiatives to make Andhra Pradesh a drought-free state. WEF will set up an office in Andhra Pradesh to implement best practices from across the world in the State. The WEF has already created sub-groups to study and implement best agricultural practices in South America, Africa, Asia and Pacific regions. The studies from these groups will be implemented in Andhra Pradesh to enhance productivity, protection and profitability in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh. In the audience was Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who lauded the efforts to empower farmers. Discussions were held with him about his initiative in creating an Agriculture Promotion Council that has boosted agricultural productivity in Ethiopia.
CM stated that his sole aim was to develop Andhra into Sunrise Andhra Pradesh where the people will be healthy, happy and prosperous. He had a fruitful and productive visit to Switzerland.
