Reddy meets Singapore PM

Hyderabad, May 11 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today had an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and former Prime Minister and Senior Minister Goh Thok Tong in Singapore.

The government of Singapore had evinced keen interest in exploring the possibilities of making huge investments in Andhra Pradesh in the areas of construction, port development, industrial parks, bio technology, municipal waste management and other sectors, an official release from the Chief Minister's office said here.

The Singapore Prime Minister had agreed to nominate a minister to study the investment opportunities in the state and in turn the Chief Minister had agreed to appoint a separate Minister to coordinate with the Singapore officials and investors, the release added.

During the high-level meeting Dr Reddy convinced them to recognise Andhra Pradesh as the best destination for making investments in India. He explained in detail to the Singapore leaders that after liberalisation and globalisation, India had excelled in various fields and achieved tremendous economic growth and Andhra Pradesh in particular had achieved unprecedented economic growth.

The Chief Minister said Hyderabad had become silicon valley of Asia, and the IT and ITES activities were now spreading to new areas like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and also to the rural areas.

Mr Goh Thok Tong suggested Dr Reddy to organise a one-day long seminar in Andhra Pradesh to showcase the state and its abundant resources and opportunities to the MNCs and investors of Singapore, instead of the one hour seminar.

The Singapore leaders told the Chief Minister that they preferred Visakhapatnam to Gujarat, since Vizag had both sea port and airport facilites and was only just three hours flight from Singapore.

Dr Reddy was accompanied by a high-level team from Andhra Pradesh including Minister for Major Industries J Geeta Reddy, Advisor to government Peter Hassan, L Rajagopal MP and other top officials of Andhra Pradesh government.

UNI