AP Hosts CII Summit As Vice-President Hails Naidu’s Development Model

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh on Friday opened the 30th CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, drawing more than 3,000 delegates from over 50 countries for two days of high-level discussions on investment, technology, trade, and sustainable growth. The summit was inaugurated by Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan, who praised Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu as a “role model for development”, recalling his transformation of Hyderabad into a global IT hub and commending his renewed efforts to position Visakhapatnam as an international economic centre.The summit features over 45 sessions spread across seven major themes—trade, future industrialisation, sustainability and climate action, technology and innovation, growth, geo-economics, and inclusion. CEOs, ministers, diplomats, and policy experts from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas and Oceania are participating.The Vice-President highlighted India’s rapid economic progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing that global poverty can be eradicated only through wealth creation. He said India is on course to become the world’s third-largest economy in two to three years and predicted the emergence of the world’s largest start-up ecosystem. He pointed to opportunities in food processing, agriculture, the blue economy, and green energy, noting that India’s target of 500 GW of clean energy capacity would secure long-term energy independence.He credited e-governance reforms and digital infrastructure for strengthening India’s knowledge economy and urged investors to “seize the moment”.Ahead of the summit, the Andhra Pradesh government signed Rs 3.65 lakh crore worth of MoUs, expected to generate 1.26 lakh jobs, signalling strong investor confidence. Prominent global companies including ReNew Energy Global, Google, ArcelorMittal and BPCL are among the investors. The government expects commitments to rise further during the summit.The Chief Minister held a series of meetings with industrialists, showcasing AP’s connectivity strengths, policy stability, and sectoral opportunities especially in horticulture, aquaculture, food processing, green energy, and emerging technologies. He reiterated the government’s plans for Space City, Drone City, and Electronic City, and said approvals would be granted swiftly under the state’s “speed of doing business” initiative.On the sidelines of the summit, IT and education minister Nara Lokesh performed bhoomi puja for five new companies, signalling investments worth over Rs 3,800 crore that are expected to create 30,000 direct jobs in Visakhapatnam. He also held bilateral meetings with global representatives and is scheduled to sign an agreement with Singapore for direct flight services between Vijayawada and Singapore.



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