The 31st CII Partnership Summit opened in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, November 12, bringing policymakers, ministers and business leaders from nearly 60 countries to the Andhra Pradesh port city for two days of trade and investment talks.
Source: The Coastal Times
The summit, jointly organised by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Andhra Pradesh government and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was inaugurated in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Its theme is “Navigating the New World Order: Trade, Technology, Trust and Thought Leadership”.
Source: Kolkata Today
Goyal: India an ‘oasis’ in a turbulent world
Addressing the inaugural session, Goyal pitched India as a predictable and reliable destination for global investors at a time when geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty are pushing businesses to reassess supply chains. “In this turbulent global world, India offers an oasis in the desert,” he said, naming open markets, technological capability and reliability as the three assurances India offers investors.
Source: ANI via NewKerala
Goyal said India has concluded nine free trade agreements (FTAs) and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) over the past four and a half years, covering 38 countries with a combined GDP of $60 trillion. Together with agreements signed before 2014, India now has preferential market access to nearly $70 trillion of global GDP, and ongoing trade engagements could raise that coverage to $85 trillion out of an estimated $115 trillion global economy, he said.
Source: The Coastal Times
“If the 20th century was dictated by cost arbitrage, the 21st century will be defined by trust arbitrage,” Goyal told the summit, arguing that investors will increasingly choose transparent governance, speed and scale over the lowest production cost alone.
The minister invited global companies to set up manufacturing units, research centres and global capability centres in India, saying research and development can be done in the country at a fraction of Western costs with intellectual property fully protected. “India does not ask for transfer of technology and does not steal anybody’s technology,” he said.
Source: The Coastal Times
Andhra Pradesh’s pitch: steel to silicon
Goyal pointed to Andhra Pradesh’s planned drone city at Orvakal, space city at Tirupati, green hydrogen hub at Pudimadaka and Quantum Valley in Amaravati, and said Visakhapatnam is expanding its industrial base “from steel to silicon”. He praised the state’s escrow mechanism for timely payment of investment incentives and its shift from “Ease of Doing Business” to “Speed of Doing Business”.
Source: The Coastal Times
The host state is targeting investment commitments of around ₹11 lakh crore from the two-day summit, with about 2.5 lakh jobs expected to be linked to the proposed projects, according to the summit’s organisers and state officials. Goyal also praised Visakhapatnam for hosting the event on schedule despite being hit by two cyclones, on October 28 and November 3.
Source: SAS Digital TV
The summit closes on Friday, November 13. Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan is scheduled to attend the closing ceremony, according to the summit programme.