Siddaramaiah invites Chinese investors, assures faster approval of projects

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today invited Chinese investors to invest in Karnataka, saying the state is ready to receive them with open arms and promised the speedy implementation of projects.

"India's exports to China touched USD 8.86 billion, whereas China's exports were USD 61.54 billion. I urge investors from China to invest in Karnataka," he said at the inauguration of 6th India-China Forum here.

India-China bilateral trade also had reached USD 70.4 billion in 2015, he added.

Siddaramaiah said Karnataka is ready to receive China with open arms in future to keep discussions andengagements moving forward.

"We will do everything possible to enable seamless conduct of business, with total transparency and with the assurance that your projects will be speedily implemented," hesaid.

Karnataka Government will continue to actively engage with China and explore all possible avenues to make them its valued partners in building of a strong and prosperous state, Siddaramaiah said.

He also expressed happiness over Karntaka signing Sister-State-Province agreement with Provincial Government of Sichuan of the People's Republic of China.

"It is just the beginning in identifying synergies in technologies which would strengthen and deepen the foundation of a Future-oriented Partnership between India and China and

Karnataka and China, evolving business ties, particularlyin defence,energy,infrastructure,agriculture and foodprocessing, Information Technology and environment,to name afew,"he said.

Siddaramaiah said Karnatakas Industrial Policy for 2014-19 was manufacturing centric with a vision is to make the state an innovative and hi-tech manufacturing hubof India.

He said India and China's relations has undergone an evolution in recent years developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership.

"It has made great strides in recent years and has become truly multi-dimensional, spurred by a significant convergence of interests, mutual goodwill and high-level exchanges," he added.