CM exhorts Andhra NRIs to strive for state's progress

The chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, has called upon the non-resident Indians hailing from Andhra Pradesh to actively participate in the development of the state and help it draw investments into the state.

" Your investments will get you more returns in Andhra Pradesh than what you can get in United States of America. So, dont miss the chance. Bring your investments to our state for the sake of your children's future, and also for the development of motherland," was his message to non-resident Indians of Telugu origin on the Christmas-day.

Inaugurating the one-day medical and business conference organised by the American Telugu Association(ATA) here on Thursday, the chief minister assured the prospective NRI investors of all support and co-operation by the state government in their endeavour.

He appealed them to make use of new business opportunities being created after the era of economic reforms with the state government playing a strong facilitator role all along.

Referring to the cellular phone boom in India, the chief minister pointed out that no one had ever imagined that India would overtake China in the growth of telecommunications sector, with one and half a million new cell phone connections being added each month in India, as compared to one million in China.

With some more reforms in the offing in other areas, similar acceleration in economic growth is very much possible in near future, he added.

"Andhra Pradesh is now in a position to supply doctors, nurses, engineers the world over to meet every country's requirement, let alone soft-ware engineers. Things are now moving in a positive direction in Andhra Pradesh and India. Now, people like you need not go all the way to US for jobs and other business opportunities . They can work for any big MNC from a remote place like Adilabad, thanks to BPO and other opportunities combined with IT revolution," the chief minister said.

The head of Ramakrishna Math at Hyderabad, Swami Paramarthananda, advised American Telugu families not to be 'non-responsive Indians' but NRIs with responsiveness towards the motherland.

AVN Reddy, the chairman of ATA, listed out the activities being undertaken by the association in US as well as Andhra Pradesh in the areas of social and educational fields.

The business seminar, which had 'Busicon' as the theme, covered various issues and topics relating to drugs and pharmaceuticals, intellectual property rights, outsourcing opportunities, bio-technology and information technology.

The interactive medical seminar also deliberated on the latest developments in various health fields. The topics discussed therein included Hepatitis-B, diabetes, bronchial asthma, alternate medicine and other topics. Apart from the seminars some literary and cultural events were held during the day-long meet.

Registered in 1991 in US as a non-profit organisation, the American Telugu Association is involved in various welfare activities like child education and healthcare programmes besides providing scholarships to meritorious students for pursuing higher education.