Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy emphasised on the emerging opportunities in strengthening connectivity between the U.S. and Andhra Pradesh and on bilateral ties forged in recent years in economics and trade, energy and culture and people-to-people exchanges.

Speaking at a reception hosted by the Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Harsh Vardhan Shringla at Washington D.C., Mr. Jagan thanked the Indian diaspora for contributing to a strong foundation for the strategic partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies.

He stated that his government was committed to delivering corruption-free governance, bringing transparency in procurement and contract management and providing investor friendly experience through one-stop hand-holding of investors across the implementation lifecycle.

Arunish Chawla and Nilkanth Avhad of the Ministry of External Affairs and senior executives of about 60 corporate houses took part in the event.

Invites firms

Mr. Jagan invited Claudia Lilian of Gilead Sciences to have a tie-up with the pharmaceutical firms in A.P. for manufacturing drugs for HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis B and C. He also met top executives of Johnson Controls which evinced interest in the development of smart cities.

Earlier, addressing a business round-table jointly organised by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the Atlanta Council’s South Asia Centre in collaboration with Georgetown University, Mr. Jagan welcomed the USIBC to play a catalytic role in strengthening the US-AP Economic Partnership.