The state government has pulled out all the stops preparing for the two-day Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018, beginning February 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the summit, which will see almost the entire Union Cabinet being present in Lucknow during those two days. As many as 16 Union ministers will be chairing sessions on various sectors. Around 1,000 MoUs worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore are expected to be signed during the event.  While finance minister Arun Jaitley will chair the session on ‘Banking the unbanked: Moving towards an inclusive UP’, the one on ‘Defence and Aerospace: Investment opportunities in UP’ would be chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Union minister for road and surface transport Nitin Gadkari will chair the session on ‘Propelling infrastructure development in UP’.

Besides, central ministers such as Rajnath Singh, Gajpathi Raju, Piyush Goyal, Suresh Prabhu, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mahesh Sharma, Hardeep Puri, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Smriti Irani are expected to chair sector-specific sessions. State government officials are providing last-minute touches to sectoral policies which would showcase the state as a major investment destination. In fact, the state government is planning to develop a defence corridor in the Bundelkhand region and the matter is being seriously considered by the defence ministry. The state government is planning special incentives for investors willing to invest in the defence sector in the state.

The Yogi Adityanath government is making serious efforts in this direction as it will help develop one of the most backward regions of the state and also help job creation. The issue was first discussed between Sitharaman and Adityanath while he was in the capital to invite central ministers for the summit. While reviewing the preparations of the event, industry minister Satish Mahana said the event would be unprecedented and presence of the Prime Minister would be a message for all investors that UP now means business.

“It is a very big event for us and we will leave no stone unturned to make it a success and reverse the perception of Uttar Pradesh as it has been known till now,” he said. Investment and Industrial Development Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said all leading industrialists such as Tata, Birla, Ambanis, Adanis, Mittal, Mahindra, Munjal, Bhartiya, etc will attend the event, which will have President Ram Nath Kovind at the closing ceremony.

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