HYDERABAD: The United States of America will be looking towards Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for investments in the areas of defence manufacturing and other sectors in the future, US Consul General in Hyderabad Joel Reifman said here on Thursday.
Speaking to newsmen on the concluding day of the India-US Defence Cooperation conference, Reifman said, “Like the United States, India is a federal system. So many great ideas originate from the laboratories in the State. So I again take credit for my team for locating it in Telangana. This is the cutting edge of defence cooperation between the US and India,” he said. Reifman highlighted the advantages of AP as an investment destination and said, “In Telangana you have enormous defence potential and in AP, you have an extremely long coastline, a population that is larger than California. Also, there are great entrepreneurial clusters,” he said.
Reifman said that because of AP’s geographical location it will be favourable for automotive sector and defence companies which could further supply to other southern States. “So we are going to work with TS, AP and Odisha,” he added.
The US Consul General also said that there should be more ‘cross training’ which should be done by having more Indian students in the US. “We will continue to promote that. There is no better investment than in US education.” Apart from that, the US Consulate will also be working on English outreach programme for ‘undeserved’ communities, for excelling in the fields of global industries and high technology, he said.
The two-day US-India Defence Ties Conference concluded on Thursday with keynote addresses by Mekapati Goutham Reddy, AP Minister for Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology and Consul General Joel Reifman. It was also attended by the Chief Office of Defence Cooperation in the US Embassy New Delhi, Captain Daniel E Fillion.