AP govt inviting Musk, Cook, Bezos for Investors Summit in Vizag

VISAKHAPATNAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Executive Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella are on the invitees list of the Andhra Pradesh government for its Global Investors Summit (GIS) to be held in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4.

Fifteen Union Ministers, 15 Chief Ministers, 44 global industrialists, 53 Indian industry bigwigs and ambassadors of various countries are being invited for the two-day event on which the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government is betting big to attract large-scale investments into the state.

Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos and Samsung Chairman and CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon are also on the invitees list for the summit to be held in the port city. Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Anand Mahindra, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Adi Godrej, Rishad Premji and N Chandrasekaran are some of the Indian giants being invited.

In his message ahead of the event, the Chief Minister noted that the GIS was being hosted "with the goal of preparing for the future." He has extended an invitation to all concerned to attend the event and "work with us" to "see your business flourish."

Soon after it assumed power in May 2019, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had conducted a diplomatic outreach programme in Vijayawada seeking investments from different countries. Now the state government is seeking to showcase "Advantage Andhra Pradesh" in a big way through the GIS, proclaiming "abundance in every sphere" and a conducive business environment for investors.

YSR Congress MP V Vijayasai Reddy said in a tweet, "In 2022, the AP State government cleared investment proposals worth Rs 1,26,750 crore, of which Rs 81,000 crore were towards green energy projects. 2023 will be bigger as we put all our strength behind the Global Investors Summit on March 3 and 4 in Vizag. AP is rising."

Official sources said though a "specific target" has not been fixed for prospective investments, it was expected to garner "anywhere between Rs 5-8 lakh crore" into different sectors.

"The summit will offer an all-inclusive platform to international and domestic investors, policy-makers, diplomats from various countries, country business delegations, influencers, industry associations and trade bodies to explore opportunities and enter into long-term partnerships," a top official of the Industries and Investment Department said.

The event would have Business-to-Business (B2B) and Government-to-Business (G2B) meetings and sector-specific plenary sessions to exhibit opportunities for global leaders.

"Our focus sectors are agri-food processing, aerospace and defence, automobile and electric vehicles, industrial and logistics infrastructure, petroleum and petrochemicals, electronics and Information Technology, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, MSMEs and tourism, among others," the official said.

He said the state government has already unveiled sector-specific policies covering pumped storage power, bulk drug parks, retail parks, electric mobility, renewable energy export, electronics and IT, apart from the industrial development policy.

The state government will conduct roadshows in Germany (January 20-26), Japan (Jan 25-27), South Korea (Jan 30-31) and USA (February 6-10) to propagate the Summit. Roadshows will be held in the UAE and Taiwan as well but the dates have not been fixed yet.

In India, a roadshow of the Summit will be conducted in New Delhi from January 10-14 and in Mumbai on February 3. Dates for the event in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad have not been finalised.