Telangana CM, IT Minister set out maiden Davos tour

The Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been invited by the WEF to participate in this year’s event soon after he assumed office.

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu will embark on Sunday night on their maiden tour to Davos, Switzerland to participate in the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to be held from Monday to Friday.The Chief Minister has been invited by the WEF to participate in this year’s event soon after he assumed office. WEF is an ideal platform to showcase the strength of Telangana as a leading IT and Life Sciences hub and attract investments.

During the hectic schedule, the Chief Minister and the Industries Minister would be meeting nearly 70 industry leaders in three days. “We are leaving no stone unturned to make it a very successful and productive trip. We expect to sign several MOUs and close significant investment deals in pharma, electronics, data centres, defense & aerospace, food processing and renewable energy sectors,” Sridhar Babu said in a statement issued before leaving to Davos on Sunday.

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The Chief Minister has also been invited to speak at the WEF Congress Centre. He would also be sharing his views during the panel discussion on transforming healthcare, digitally, which was also a key priority for the State government, he said.

Further, the Chief Minister would also be attending high level WEF event on ‘Food Systems and Local Action’ and speak about impact of climate change on agri-economy and measures to promote climate resilient agriculture while protective farmers’ livelihoods, the Minister said.“I will be participating in a panel discussion on ‘Developing Skills for AI’ being hosted by the AI industry,” Sridhar Babu said.

The Telangana delegation would also be meeting with the top management of World Economic Forum, including its president Brende Borge and several sector heads. Hyderabad is the only city in India to host WEF’s Centre for 4th Industrial Revolution (C4IR) for the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector.

However, there will be lot of curiosity among people and business organizations on the performance of the Telangana delegation this time, considering the fact that former Industries Minister KT Rama Rao had been very successful in attracting investments into the State. During the WEF’s edition in January 2023, Telangana had mopped up investments worth a staggering Rs.21,000 crore. All this was achieved in just four days that saw 52 business meetings and six round table meetings.One of the biggest draws of last edition for the State was the WEF announcing plans to establishment the C4IR in Hyderabad.

Telangana’s major achievements also included Microsoft’s announcement to set up three more data centres in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs.16,000 crore. Bharti Airtel Group had announced setting up of a large Hyperscale Data Centre in Hyderabad with Rs.2,000 crore among others.

During the 2022 edition, Telangana had secured investments worth Rs.4,200 crore.