A delegation from the US State Department met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at the State Secretariat here on Tuesday.
The delegation consisted of Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Puneet Talwar, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Atul Keshap, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Kenneth Handelman, Consul General Micheal Mullins and others officials.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister asked the officials to set up a US Consulate in Vijayawada. “Most of the people flying to the US from the state hail from this region. Hence, it would be beneficial if you set up an office there,” he added.
The US officials said that they would consider the possibility of setting up a branch office in Vijayawada. The officials also evinced interest in investing in India’s defense technologies.
The Chief Minister said that Visakhapatnam is home to Eastern Naval Command and hence, welcomed them to invest in AP. He explained that his focus is on manufacturing as well as the service sector. “We want to focus on automobiles, electronics, agro-processing, petrochemicals, and other areas too apart from IT,” he added.
He said that Andhra Pradesh has the potential to become the logistics hub for South East Asia where companies can manufacture goods and export to other countries through AP’s ports.
On capital city, the Chief Minister informed them that Singapore is preparing the master plan for the capital city and that works in capital city will start in another 2-3 months.
“Singapore Second Minister (trade and industry) S. Iswaran will be visiting us this month. So we will begin the works in another 2-3 months,” the Chief Minister explained. (INN)