Maharashtra, China's Wenzou province now 'sister states'

Mumbai, Nov 20: Maharashtra Thursday signed an agreement with Wenzou province of China declaring both to be 'sister states' and to promote trade and industry, officials said here.

The memorandum of understanding, signed by Industry Minister Prakash Mehta and Wenzou's Deputy Secretary General Zhao Dianlin, will help Maharashtra secure the latest technology and machinery from there.

Earlier, inaugurating the three-day China Machinex India 2014 and China Home Life India 2014 expos, Mehta said the state government has received fresh investment proposals worth over Rs.100,000 crore within the last month.

"These proposals are under consideration and will be cleared very soon by the state government," he said.

Though industrial growth in Maharashtra plummeted in the past couple of months mainly due to lack of clearances and lengthy licensing policy, Mehta said the new government under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will soon adopt a 'single window system' for various clearances required to set up projects.

The state government also proposes to reduce the number of such clearances to 20, he said.

Maharashtra was the No.1 industrial state in India and would remain on top, he added.

Chinese Consulate's Liu Guoyu said bilateral trade between India and China has gone up by 8.8 percent to $52.8 billion till September, which was a very encouraging factor.

Frequent bilateral visits by top officials was a welcome sign and the current year would add a new chapter in the trade relationship between the two countries, he added.

India Tech Foundation president Indra Mohan, who presided over the first China-India Investment Summit Thursday, said it would open a new chapter in fresh investments in the power and infrastructure sectors.

The various recommendations of the summit would be forwarded to the central government to help promote the 'Make In India' dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.

IANS