CM Jagan inaugurates AP Pavilion at WEF Davos

DAVOS / VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy inaugurated the AP Pavilion at World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos, on Sunday. The pavilion carries the slogan, ‘People – Progress – Possibilities’.

The chief minister was set to sign an agreement with WEF founder Professor Claus Schwab for AP’s better connection and coordination with the programmes and projects of WEF.

Jagan Reddy had a busy day at the WEF 2022 on Sunday, meeting dignitaries and captains of industries besides inaugurating the AP Pavilion, showcasing the investment opportunities in the state.

The AP Pavilion depicts the favourable conditions in AP for flow of investments and explains the various policies of the government, besides highlighting the geographic advantage the state has because of its long coastline, among other thrust areas for business partnerships.

The CM held discussions with Klaus Schwab on subjects like transforming governance, investing in future areas of education, healthcare, skilling, economic growth and recovery, infrastructure development, port-led industrialization and how the WEF platform can be leveraged to meet environmental and social governance objectives of the state.

Prof. Schwab said he was impressed at the potential of Andhra Pradesh, which is known as the Food Hub of India because of its massively-spread rice belt. He emphasized on the important role that could be played by the state in addressing the global issue of food shortage.

Prof. Schwab, a German-born Engineer, welcomed the advanced manufacturing partnership and promised the commitment of the WEF in meeting the objectives laid out in the agreement with the AP government.

Later, Jagan met Dr. Shyam Bishen, head of health and healthcare, WEF, and discussed collaborations with the Forum on healthcare, biotechnology and innovation. Bishen hailed the initiatives taken by the Andhra Pradesh government in building a resilient healthcare system through the YSR Village Health Clinics for every 2,000 population, Village / Ward Secretariats, the decentralized system ensuring schemes and service benefited all citizens, the Universal Health Coverage the Dr. YSR Aarogyasri – the end-to-end cashless health care services, among others.

The chief minister also identified the forum as a platform to explore fruitful partnerships to scale-up the state-wide health initiatives and also explore the setting up of the multi-specialty hospitals across the districts.

During the meeting with Hans-Paul Bürkner, chairman of BCG, the two sides discussed the opportunities emerging in India and specifically, Andhra Pradesh with the global diversification of supply-chains and emphasized the importance of having a single-point interface to ensure seamless facilitation of investments.

Jagan emphasized that the state’s ranking of #1 also accounts for the feedback of the investors in the EoDB ratings. Given the port-led infrastructure and accessibility to the ports, Andhra Pradesh is the ideal destination acting as the gateway to the east, he said.

Bürkner felt the investments and initiatives being taken by the state in ensuring primary education and healthcare is reached to all, and the state’s skill development programmes with efficient labour contracts will attract global investors to AP. He also emphasized the importance of existing investors being ambassadors of the state and said consistent communication with the industry partners would help promote the opportunities in the state.