HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked officials to showcase the investment opportunities in the state at the three-day partnership summit beginning here on January 11.
He also wanted them to organise cultural programmes depicting the richness of culture of the state and the country to the foreign delegates. The chief minister will have onetoone meeting with ministerial and business delegations from other states and countries. Besides Kiran Kumar Reddy, Union minister for commerce, industry and textiles Anand Sharma, emeritus senior minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong and state minister for major industries J Geetha Reddy will address the summit, says a press release issued by the chief minister's office here on Sunday.
Ministerial and business delegations from Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Mali, Malaysia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe will participate in the summit. Republic of Mali president Amadou Tomani Toure and Singapore emeritus senior minister Goh Chok Tong will be the guests of honour.
With regard to the summit, 140 proposals have been received so far entailing investments to the tune of `3,14,466 crore and promising to create employment for 2,49,219 people. The proposals cover mega projects, nonmega projects, public sector undertakings and categories include power projects, IT projects, infrastructure projects and tourism projects.
The chief minister told the officials that industrialisation was the answer to the growing unemployment problem. While the government has a role to play in the creation of jobs, it is only the private sector that can meet the gigantic task. He is of the view that the government's role in industrial promotion is that of a facilitator.
Industry captains have extended their support to the chief minister's ambitious programme of creating 1.5 million jobs by 2015 under the Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu (RYK) scheme. They have promised to absorb unemployed youth in their units after appropriate training in skill development. In spite of the availability of abundant number of engineering and other unemployed graduates, one area of concern to industry in the state is the lack of skilled manpower, including the information technology sector which expects to post an 18 per cent growth this year. The chief minister assured the industry that his government would invest in skill upgradation and training of the youth.
Reddy recalled the State Investment Promotion Board clearing 30 investment proposals of the value of Rs 76,552 crore with a potential for employment of 71,908 people. The proposals covered automobile, textile, chemical and petrochemical, food processing, glass, mechanical, metallurgical and mineralbased industries. The industries department has already released the names of the industries and areas where the units will be established.