UP will sign 23 MoUs worth Rs 50,000 crore during DefExpo: CM Yogi

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the state government will sign 23 memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the ongoing Defence Expo 2020 in Lucknow.

He said these agreements would create employment opportunities for 300,000 people and fetch investments worth Rs 50,000 crore for UP Defence Corridor, which spans six nodes at Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Aligarh and Agra.

Adityanath was addressing a gathering after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated India’s largest ever Defence Expo 2020 here.

“DefExpo in Lucknow is a big achievement for UP,” the CM said while thanking Modi and defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is also the local Member of Parliament (MP).

“After UP was awarded the Defence Corridor by the Prime Minister in 2018, we formulated our defence and aerospace policy and created a large land bank of 25,000 acres in the six nodes,” he informed.

The CM claimed owing to the better connectivity in UP and improved law and order, the state had emerged a preferred investment destination, and the DefExpo would further fuel its forward march.

He stressed the government was striving hard to speed up infrastructure development and build a network of mega expressways. While, two expressways viz. Yamuna Expressway and Agra-Lucknow Expressway are operational, two other expressways including Purvanchal Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway are touted to be thrown open for public use in the next couple of years, he claimed.

“We are also working on our third proposed Ganga Expressway, which would connect Meerut and Prayagraj (Allahabad),” Adityanath added.

He further mentioned about the proposed Asia's biggest greenfield international airport at Jewar, Greater Noida and the development of 11 new airports under the regional connectivity scheme, and noted the DefExpo was an important event to this end.

Modi in later address underlined the need for India to attain self reliance in military requirements to face the present and future security challenges and set the target of defence export worth $5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) in the next five years.

Underlining the aim of ‘Make in India’ for India and the world, he said DefExpo 2020 was among the biggest defence shows globally, and it would contribute towards showcasing India as an ideal investment destination for defence and military hardware.

“India is not only a big market, but offers huge business opportunities,” Modi asked foreign investors and assured their investments would provide good returns and at the same time help India become self reliant in defence needs.

The 11th edition of biennial DefExpo 2020 during February 5-9 will feature 1,000 exhibitors, including 165 foreign companies from the US, France, Germany, Russia, Israel, Australia etc, are participating in the event, making it the largest ever defence show surpassing the 10th edition of DefExpo 2018 in Chennai, when about 700 exhibitors had participated.