BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday interacted with a host of ambassadors in New Delhi and invited their countries to partner with Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2022, Odisha Government’s flagship investment meet scheduled to be held later this year at Bhubaneswar.
Addressing the ambassadors at a curtain raiser for the third edition of the industrial carnival, Naveen urged the countries to invest in Odisha and said an international pavilion will be set up as part of the conclave for coordinating overseas investments. The Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2022 will be held from November 30 to December 4.
“We would like the countries to set up their offices and stalls in the pavilion during the conclave and conduct G2B and B2B meetings. We will provide all necessary facilitation for the investors to become partners of the State’s transformational journey,” he told the envoys during the interaction.
Odisha is one of the fastest growing economies in India and has consistently grown above the national average in the last decade and a half, he said.
“We are fast emerging as a major industrial destination in eastern India because of our natural resource advantage and strategic location. Over the last 20 years, my government has focused on leveraging these natural advantages through progressive policy, efficient administration, and technological interventions,” the CM said.
Minister for Industries, MSME and Energy Pratap Keshari Deb said Odisha’s industrial growth has been focused on developing a highly skilled workforce and robust ecosystems for sectors like food processing, IT/ITeS, Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM), plastics, metals and metal downstream.
“The State has nearly 200 engineering colleges and 1000 ITIs. We have recently established a first-of-its-kind World Skill Centre (WSC) for advanced skill training,” he said.
Prior to the meeting, over 17 one-on-one B2G meetings with various industrial houses were held with Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra. Principal Secretary of Industries department Hemant Sharma, 5T Secretary VK Pandian and Director General of FICCI Arun Chawla were present among others.
Diplomats from around 30 countries attended the ambassadors’ meeting organised in collaboration with FICCI. The countries included Japan, Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Bahrain, Finland, Morocco, Canada, Norway, Myanmar, Philippines, Slovenia, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Bhutan and Great Britain.
This was the third investment road show after Dubai and Ahmedabad ahead of the mega event. The fourth meet is slated to be held in Mumbai on September 14.