USISPF Delegation Meets Chief Minister Sh. Yogi Adityanath On Accelerating Development in Uttar Pradesh

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the leadership of major U.S. companies in India, under the aegis of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), called on the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath, after a day long discussion with key officials from the state government. The Chief Minister's focus on improving the perception of Uttar Pradesh as an investment destination, as well as his dedicated efforts in creating an eco-system of clean governance, has provided American companies the needed impetus to explore opportunities for partnership in the state.

USISPF in partnership with the NITI Aayog and U.S. Embassy in India co-hosted a Road to GES event on "Accelerating Development in Uttar Pradesh." India will host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017, a series of global events that showcase inspiring entrepreneurs and investors, in Hyderabad later this year. As a pre-cursor to the GES, this program in Lucknow brought together American companies to discuss the role of innovation and technology in leapfrogging development, in a state as vast as Uttar Pradesh.

The event was hosted under the stewardship of Hon'ble Health Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Sidharth Nath Singh, who stated in his opening comments that, "You [U.S. Companies] have the opportunity to invest in other states, but for your effort to come to Uttar Pradesh and show interest, we thank you, we look forward to keeping you here."

Nivedita Mehra, Managing Director - India, USISPF, stressed on the forum's commitment to the UP developmental agenda. "In this endeavor," she added, "the UP government should appoint a dedicated empowered senior official, to facilitate and fast-track U.S. investments into the state." 

NITI Aayog Member, Dr. V.K Paul shared the center's vision for Public Private Partnerships in the state. Dr. Paul said, "Here is a state that is a huge market, with the potential to grow and develop. Uttar Pradesh's success is India's success."

The Chief Secretary Shri Rajive Kumar chaired a session on investment opportunities in the state. Dr. Anup Pandey, Industries Commissioner, and Shri Alok Sinha, Principal Secretary for Industries & Infrastructure, made presentations on the new industrial policy for Uttar Pradesh.

The business delegation was led by Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India who said that American companies "view Uttar Pradesh as a source of growth and competitiveness." The delegation also included C-level executives from major U.S. companies including Merck, Medtronic, Oracle, Cargill, GE Healthcare, Adobe and Facebook among others. 

Representing the U.S. Embassy, Ariel Pollock, Head, North India said, "The U.S. mission to India is committed to Uttar Pradesh, as is evident in our support of the smart cities program in Allahabad. It will continue to do so." The U.S. Trade and Development Agency also announced its intent to move ahead with a reverse trade mission on smart cities by inviting officials from Uttar Pradesh government to American cities such as Boston and Pittsburgh.

USISPF also launched its first co-innovation laboratory in Allahabad, which has been identified under the 100 smart cities mission, during the event. The Co-Innovation Lab initiative, in a simultaneous boost to Make in India, intends to provide local solutions to local problems by roping in young innovators, startups and local governments, primarily in areas of energy, transportation, waste management, healthcare, artificial intelligence, climate and smart agriculture.

About the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF):
The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum is committed to creating the most powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India. Promoting bilateral trade is an important part of our work, but our mission reaches far beyond this. It is about business and government coming together in new ways to create meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.

For more details, please visit http://usispf.org/. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

For more details, please contact:
USISPF:
Nina Anand | [email protected]
Gauri Datta | [email protected]

SOURCE US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)