Report by OD bureau; Bhubaneswar: In another step towards augmenting investments in Odisha, collaborative efforts have been initiated to show case investment opportunities at Singapore. A high level meeting to this effect has been held under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik in Secretariat Conference hall today where in Invest Bhubaneswar presented the proposal for organizing the event at Singapore. The objective of event would be to promote entrepreneurial interaction of Odisha with business community of Singapore.  

Presentations made in the meeting reveal that Singapore has been chosen for this event as in recent days Singapore has emerged as a key Financial Hub of Asia. It has been recognized as most-open economy with best investment potential. Reports say, the country has highest density of wealthy people and around 7% of its population take part in entrepreneurial activities and investment in international business. The business community of Singapore has also expressed interest for investment in Odisha because of state’s high growth rate and enabling policies. 

Considering the proposal Chief Secretary has asked IPICOL to prepare a Road Map of investment opportunities in Odisha with specific sectors and targets.  Sri Patnaik has advised Invest Bhubaneswar Team to arrange matchmaking between entrepreneurs in Odisha and Singapore particularly in the field of small and medium industries. Chief Secretary has also asked them to identify genuinely interested 50 entrepreneurs form Odisha to participate in the event and enter in to collaborative ventures.

It has been decided that Team Odisha will be the Nodal Agency for this event. The proposed focus areas of the seminar include Information Technology, Infrastructure, Alternative Energy and Tourism. It has been proposed that  IPICOL,  IDCO, Department of Tourism, Information Technology, Micro Small & Medium Enterprise will participate in the seminar and exhibition and will show case the investment opportunities of Odisha in various sectors. The event will be organized on 25th September, 2012. Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries will be the associate partner for organization of the event.

Chief Secretary Patnaik has advised IPICOL to engage Liaison Professionals for having regular follow up and facilitation services with different countries like Taiwan, Singapore etc. Pr. Secretary Tourism & Culture  A.K. Tripathy, Special Secretary MS & ME Panchanana Das, CMD IPICOL C.J. Venugopal, Secretary IT M.Pahdi, Secretary Science & Technology, leading members of Invest Bhubaneswar Team along with other senior officials participated in discussions.