Vizag emerging as an incubation hub

Hyderabad: Visakhapatnam city is an emerging incubation centre in India as the YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government is extending policy support to local entrepreneurs to collaborate with advanced economies such as the US, said Mekapati Goutam Reddy, AP Industries, Commerce and IT Minister.

"The YSRCP government would like to see the local entrepreneurs from the state to be part of the subcontracting system in the preference procurements happening between India and the US.

Visakhapatnam is an incubation center and is going to be the next great city in the country for the industrial collaboration with the US," said Reddy.

The Minister participated in a conference conducted by US Consulate in Hyderabad on strengthening the US- India collaboration in defence manufacturing and innovation.

"The US-India defence partnership is going strong. And Andhra Pradesh is playing a major role in the bilateral trade.

In the last month, Tiger Triumph, the first ever tri-service military exercise between India and the US took place on the Andhra coast, at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.

Three additional US Navy officials had visited Visakhapatnam in 2018 and discussed on strengthening the military-to-military partnership between India and the United States in Andhra Pradesh," further added the Minister.

A good number of entrepreneurs from Vijayawada, Tirupati, Guntur and Visakhapatnam participated in the conference.

These emerging business centers in Andhra Pradesh are part of a dynamic economic environment for increased US-India business ties, including in the defence space.

The US-India cooperation through the smart cities initiative in Visakhapatnam is opening a new chapter in the productive partnership between the two countries, remarked the Minister.