Hyderabad|India|February'2010: The Chief Minister K Rosaiah invited industrialists from UAE to invest in Andhra Pradesh as there are enormous opportunities in various sectors here. He was talking to Ms. Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates when the latter called on Mr. Rosaiah at Secretariat. The UAE Minister was accompanied by UAE Ambassador to India, Mohd. Sultan Al Owais, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Trade, Abdulla A. Al Saleh, Acting Chairman, SCCI, Chairman of Fujuairah Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Saeed Ali Khammas and CII representatives.

The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh has emerged as one of the fastest growing States in the country after recording an average annual growth rate of nearly 10% in its GSDP for the 5 years period from 2003-04 to 2007-08 which is much higher than the national average for the corresponding period. He said AP is the leader in Paper, Cement, Pharma and granite industries, 2nd in the country in textiles, 3rd in iron and 4th in steel production. Other potential sectors are food processing, engineering industries & biotechnology and now the emerging sectors are semiconductors, aerospace and precision tools.

The Chief Minister said RAK cements, a UAE project is successfully implemented in peddapuram in East Godavari district. The other UAE projects for implementation, he said are ANRAK, VANPIC, Hyderabad Economic City and Airport in Ongole. He said A.P. has the highest number of Special Economic Zones and of the 107 proposals, 73 are notified. He said ours is the first State to promote a Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in an area of 604 sq. kms in the State.

The Chief Minister said the strengths of UAE are petroleum and petrochemicals, fishing, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, commercial ship repair, construction materials etc. He said there are opportunities for UAE investments in the State in ports, airports and petrochemical projects.

The UAE Minister said they have lot of interests in the State and said a sizeable population of UAE are from Andhra Pra

Major Industries Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, Advisor, Industries, Peter Hassan, Principal Secretary, Industries, Sam Bob and other officials attended the meeting.

eachout's News Bureau
February' 2010