The Honourable Minister of State for External Affairs Shri M. J. Akbar; the Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, Shri Mohammed Shahriar Alam; Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Jaishankar; and our Ambassador to Germany and my batchmate, Shri Gurjit Singh.
Consul Generals, office bearers of Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, Mr Fernandes, Ms Neelam Deo, Ms Manjeet Kripalani.
Distinguished delegates and participants, ladies and gentlemen.
I am honoured to welcome you to Mumbai for the Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue, ‘Where Geopolitics Meets Business’, co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.
The Government of Maharashtra is happy to associate itself with the Ministry of External Affairs and Gateway House in hosting India’s premier geoeconomics conference, interweaving business and financial discussions in their geopolitical context.
This conference is truly international in its nature as reflected in the diverse pool of experts and industry representatives gathered here from around the world as well as the global scope of the panel discussions to follow.
India is recognised as a stable bright spot in the turbulent world economy which is continuing to grow at nearly 7%. The government of India has embarked on economic reform policies while maintaining stability. Recent examples include: the currency exchange programme to address issues of corruption and terrorist finance flows; and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax to bring India in line with global taxation practices.
The central government’s devolution of power to the state governments is not only limited to financial autonomy and tax collection, but has also introduced an element of healthy competition between state governments to attract Indian and foreign investment. This has provided the impetus for states to undertake different programmes of reform of land and labour laws and build infrastructure.
Today, we have assembled in Mumbai, which is the capital of a state, known as Maharashtra, and Maharashtra is, traditionally, the most industrialised state in the country. The state continues to retain its first position in terms of investments received.
The industrial scenario of the state is varied and not limited to one or two sectors. Some of these sectors include: automobiles, auto components, engineering, information technology, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics, food processing etc. The entire world is represented in Maharashtra and companies from the U.S., European Union, China, Japan, and South East Asia have all set up production facilities here.
The state provides a conducive environment and skilled manpower, adequate land, water and power, and investment facilitation centres for quick clearances. That is why it has been successful in attracting investors from giants like General Motors, Volkswagen, General Electric and others.
The state attracted investment MoUs worth Rs 8 lakh crore, or about $11.5 billion, during the Make in India event, which was held in Mumbai in February 2016.
Maharashtra alone receives 30% of the total FDI flowing to India. It is also the largest contributor to the central tax revenues.
Mumbai is the commercial and financial capital of India and we strive constantly to improve the hardware of our infrastructure and the software of our laws to create the best possible working environment for industry and the welfare of our people
We are honoured that this conference is starting with the dialogue between the Honourable M.J. Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs, and Mohammed Shahriar Alam, State Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, illuminating the growing warmth in relations between India and Bangladesh. The dialogue will highlight the importance of closer neighbourly relations in creating a peaceful South Asia which will enable both the countries to achieve their full potential for development.
Once again, on behalf of the Government of Maharashtra, the Ministry of External Affairs and Gateway House, I am delighted to welcome everyone present here and hope that your thematic expertise and global experiences will translate into robust discussions over the course of this conference.
I would like now to welcome Honourable Shri M.J. Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs, government of India and Honourable Mohammed Shahriar Alam, State Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, for the inaugural dialogue.
Swadheen Kshatriya is the Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra.
This speech was delivered as the Welcome Address at The Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue 2017, held in Mumbai on the 13-14th of February 2017.
You can read exclusive content from Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, here.
For interview requests with the author, or for permission to republish, please contact outreach@gatewayhouse.in.
© Copyright 2017 Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized copying or reproduction is strictly prohibited