The U.S -India Business Council (USIBC) on Friday hosted a Smart Cities Roundtable for Visakhapatnam with senior representatives from the Ministry of Urban Development and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Diane Farrell, Acting-President of USIBC, led representatives from 25 major U.S. companies, including 3M, AECOM, Applied Materials, CH2MHill, Cisco, Dow, GE, Hospira, IBM, Microsoft, and United Technologies Corporation, in detailed discussions with Centre and State government officials to create a roadmap and advance the goal of developing Visakhapatnam into a smart city as articulated in the joint statement between President Obama and Prime Minister Modi in September.
Representing the Union Ministry of Urban Development was Joint Secretary in-charge of Vishakapatnam, Praveen Prakash, who was joined by A Giridhar, Principal Secretary for Urban Development for the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Praveen Prakash said, “We are delighted to see the progress made here today which reaffirmed the commitment of the government and U.S. industry towards building Visakhapatnam as a model for India’s 100 smart cities plan.”
During USIBC’s first Smart Cities Conclave held last November, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu had invited USIBC to constitute Smart City sub-committees in order to prepare an action plan for Visakhapatnam, Allahabad, and Ajmer.
”The Council and its member companies look to play an integral role in India's commitment to build 100 Smart Cities across the nation and particularly in Visakhapatnam, Allahabad, and Ajmer. With the second bilateral meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Modi in less than four months, there is a shared sense of desire to deliver results,” said Diane Farrell.