CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos has been another step in aligning the state’s growth trajectory with global economic trends, according to Industries Minister TRB Rajaa.
Speaking after the state concluded its participation in the 54th Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 held under the theme “Rebuilding trust’, he said the state is committed to leveraging these new relationships and insights to catalyse the state’s development in various sectors,
The delegation led by Rajaa, which comprised industries secretary Arun Roy and Guidance Tamil Nadu chief executive officer V Vishnu among others engaged in over 50 interactions, including one-on-one meetings with top global corporations and representatives of governments, speaking engagements, networking events and impromptu walk-ins. The delegation also demonstrated Tamil Nadu’s commitment to fostering global partnerships and showcasing its unique Dravidian model of governance.
Notable companies the delegation met include Rockwell Automation, Vestas, Valeo, SwissRe, Mitsubishi Electric, HP, Accenture, Schneider Electric, Maersk, Hitachi Energy and Geox. Discussions covered diverse sectors such as IT, automobiles, renewables, electronics, global capability centres, investment funds, footwear, healthcare, and life sciences. The delegation also met representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Singapore, among others.
Roy said, “The delegation aimed to forge new relationships, deepen existing ones, explore emerging sectors for investment and gather innovative ideas. This was achieved through bilateral meetings with business leaders and CXOs,and projecting Tamil Nadu as a prime investment destination. We hope to convert these meetings into investments in the coming months.”
Pongal@Davos was also held at the pavilion. Key speaking sessions led by the delegation included discussions on the future of manufacturing with executives from Qualcomm, Analog Device, Hitachi, Borgwarner, RGP Group, and others. Another highlight was the panel on “Strengthening global economies through SMEs,” which explored public-private partnership models to support SMEs in advanced manufacturing.