Andhra Pradesh CM meets Singapore Minister

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu welcomed Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry S. Iswaran at the 3rd Joint Implementation Steering Committee (JISC) meeting being held at the Taj Gateway Hotel here on Thursday.

The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) and Singapore-Amaravati Investments Holding Ltd (SAIH) signed a Concession and Development Agreement (CADA) to develop the start-up area in Amaravati.

“After substantial progress since November, this is the last step towards starting the grounding of the project”, said Principal Secretary (Energy, Infrastructure and Investments) Ajay Jain.

The JISC meeting was followed by a one-on-one interaction where both leaders decided that direct flights between Singapore and Vijayawada would commence in a month’s time and talked about the need for teamwork between the Consortium and the state government.

“The first flight from Singapore should land in Vijayawada on June 8th”, said Chief Minister Naidu. Talking about the required assistance from the Consortium to bring in the convergence of activities in infrastructure, tourism, education and the service sector, he said, “Catalytic development should be our medium to bring in more investments and economic activities. Creating an ecosystem to encourage entrepreneurship is important for ensuring sustainability.”

A World Cities Summit will be hosted in Singapore from 8 to 10 July, where the chief minister will be speaking at the Mayors Forum (8th July) and the Plenary Opening Session (9th July). The CRDA Commissioner will also participate on July 10 on the thematic track on governance. There will be a booth allotted to showcase the development and planning of Amaravati.

Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, MA& UD Minister P. Narayana, Special Chief Secretary (Finance) M. Ravichandra, Principal Secretary (E, I&I) Ajay Jain, Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena, RTG CEO Ahmed Babu, APEDB CEO Jasthi Krishna Kishore, CRDA Commissioner Sreedhar Cherukrui and ADC Chairperson Lakshmi Parthasarathy represented the AP government in the JISC meeting.

ANI