Edappadi K Palaniswami, Chief Minister of South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has addressed a high-level meeting in the UAE to seek foreign investments for ambitious mega projects.
This is the first visit of Palaniswami to the UAE since he assumed office and Dubai was his last stop after similar visits to the UK and the US.
Shri Vipul, Consul General of India to Dubai, said: “The Indian mission in Dubai is very happy to facilitate signing of this massive number of MoUs. Such a high-level state visit not only promotes two-way investment opportunities but is crucial to the relationship between India and the UAE.”
The exclusive investors roundtable was hosted by the Business Leaders Forum (BLF), an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Economy, the Indian Embassy in the UAE and the Consulate General of India in Dubai.
Addressing the investors, the Chief Minister said: “Tamil Nadu has been taking various initiatives to further promote sectors like e-vehicle manufacturing, electronics, hardware and software, food processing, aircraft MRO facilities, and so on. This visit is to seek tangible investments for Tamil Nadu that is mutually rewarding for both the state and the investors.”
K Shanmugam IAS, Chief Secretary of Government of Tamil Nadu, added that Tamil Nadu attracted $29.8 billion of FDI from April 2000 to March 2019, making it the fourth largest FDI destination region in India.
“Conducive business environment clubbed with various incentives like tax refunds, capital subsidy, highly skilled manpower, quality power supply, state-of-the art infrastructure facilities with six airports, four large seaports and reputation for efficiency and competitiveness have made Tamil Nadu the choice of investors,” he added.
Paras Shahdadpuri, president of BLF, said: “We have a huge potential to unearth and we have only scratched the surface with this maiden roundtable. There is no progress without a starting and this is a good start for a mutually rewarding relationship.”
MoUs were signed in key sectors such as bio-diesel, agro and food processing, warehousing and storage, manufacturing and industry, trade and export facilitation, placement of skilled manpower, healthcare, malls and hospitality.
They included deals by DP World to invest in a Free Trade Warehousing Zone, which will employ more than 1,000 people while ITEC ME signed an MoU to establish a multi-trade export facilitation from Tamil Nadu to promote SMEs, and another MoU to facilitate placement of skilled manpower from Tamil Nadu to the UAE.
Tamil Nadu is the state with the highest number of factories and industrial workers in the country. It is also a leader in terms of industrial output.
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