Khattar holds video conference with CEOs, top management of 60 US firms

Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar on Tuesday held a video conference with chief executives and top management of prominent US-based companies during which opportunities in various areas were discussed.

"A large number of opportunities including promotion of home health care, transition of automobile component manufacturing to aerospace machinery manufacturing and use of transformational technology like 5-G, Edge, artificial intelligence (AI) in governance and industrial manufacturing were identified in the video conference," a statement by the Haryana government said here on Tuesday.

It said the conference was chaired jointly by Khattar and Nisha Desai Biswal, president of the United States-India Business Council (USIBC).

It was attended by CEOs/top management of over 60 most prominent American companies.

These included Boeing, Coca-Cola, Baxter, Walmart, Stryker, Master Card, Troy Corporation, GE and Intel, the statement said.

On the occasion, Khattar said that for the past two months, each one of us has experienced a life in which difference between 'local' and 'global' have completely vanished.

"We have all worked from home, made do with only essential goods and services and seen economic life slowdown. Our lives have been devoid of travel, routine and entertainment," he added.

He also said satisfaction of having stayed safe and having kept our loved ones safe is no mean achievement.

He said the adverse human, social, fiscal and economic impacts of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown measures unfolded every day.

"Like all other governments, we tried our best to mitigate these. We did not let anyone sleep hungry in Haryana and kept the spread of coronavirus under check," he said.

During the conference, the chief minister said the Haryana government has used the lockdown period effectively for introducing many governance reforms.

"From March to May we have set up 3 brand new Departments namely Department of MSMEs; Department of Housing for All and Department of Citizen Resources Information. Also, to address the concern of high land prices, we have added a new investor-friendly element of land allotment for manufacturing units on a lease basis," he said.

He said that last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic stimulus equal to 10 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP).

He said that "we are not looking at incremental reforms but a quantum leap".

The participants appreciated the efforts made by the Haryana government and its officers in managing COVID-19 situation in the state particularly in Gurugram and Faridabad. They shared their project proposals and ideas for their further investment in Haryana, the statement said.

The chief minister assured that the state government would facilitate all investment that may come to Haryana as a result of the discussion.

According to the statement, Biswal said Haryana is best suited for setting up of manufacturing bases of US companies wishing to diversify their production across the globe in post-coronavirus world.