Andhra Pradesh government signs four MoUs with Sumitomo Corporation

The state government has identified Vijayawada–Guntur region to develop a new capital city.

The MoUs were signed during a visit of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to the Sumitomo Corporation on the fourth day of his tour to Japan, according to a statement issued by his office.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister welcomed Sumitomo to Andhra Pradesh and said the state could be the gateway to South East Asia if the corporation chose to do business with them.

According to the MoU on developing a capital city, Sumitomo would assist the AP state government for develop the new capital as a world class smart city and also try to secure funds for the endeavour.

"In response to Government of Andhra Pradesh's above mentioned intention and desire, Sumitomo sent its survey team. Sumitomo shall assist in developing the new capital of Andhra Pradesh as a world class smart city," an AP state government statement said.

"Sumitomo shall try and assist to find as well as secure necessary funds for such development from the Japanese government funding by JICA, NEDO and JBIC as much as practically applicable. In addition, Sumitomo shall introduce the latest technology in various sectors," it added.

As per the MoU on energy, the AP state government plans to collaborate with Sumitomo to develop a 4x1000 MW coal fired power station at Srikakulam.

Source: News

Processes for inking FTA underway: Philippines assures India

The assurance was given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Philippines President Benigno Aquino during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN and East Asia summits here.

India has formally signed the long-pending pact with the other nine southeast Asian nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Modi in his address to the 12th India-ASEAN summit yesterday had urged that the FTA on Service and Investment be brought into force "at the earliest".

The services agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments. The pact will allow India to leverage its competitive edge in the areas of finance, education, health, IT, telecommunications and transport.

This will be especially helpful for balancing India's deficit with ASEAN countries in trade of goods. The India– ASEAN agreement on trade in goods was operationalised in 2010.

It seeks to liberalise trade in services and bilateral investment, building on their existing free trade agreement (FTA) for goods and covering a combined population of 1.8 billion.

The current India-ASEAN trade is around USD 81 billion and a target of USD 100 billion has been set for 2015.

The FTA will help provide a commercially meaningful market across ASEAN for India's professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector.

The deal was signed by India in New Delhi after Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cancelled her visit here on August 26 to initial the pact as she was preoccupied with the launch of the inclusive banking scheme, Jan Dhan Yojana.

The deal has instead been signed by circulating the text around the countries involved.

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