UP minister US bound to woo investors

In a bid to showcase Uttar Pradesh as an ideal investment destination, senior minister Sidharth Nath Singh will embark on a five-day visit to the US next week during which he is expected to hold parleys with top American companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Amazon.

"The tour will start with a visit to Medtronic -- one of the largest health companies in the world. They have evinced interest in establishing cath labs in every district hospital of the state.

"Meeting will also be held with officials of ride-hailer Uber, which is so far serving people in Lucknow and wants to expand to tier-2 cities in the state," Singh told PTI here today.

He said that officials of Mastercard and Visa, which want to expand their footprint in UP, are likely to meet him.

Adobe and Cisco also have plans for setting up facilities in the state, Singh said.

"My San Francisco visit will be related mostly to health and information technology," he said.

Singh, who holds the health portfolio and is also the state government's official spokesperson, said that on May 1 he will visit Stanford University and deliver a lecture on UP.

Referring to his scheduled meeting with Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, Singh said the company wants to bring fighter aircraft to India.

The UP cabinet minister is also likely to attend a meeting of the UP diaspora in New York on May 5.

Singh also said he will be ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

"We also want to explore the possibility of setting up a financial hub/centre in the state, which will deal in banking and stock exchange activities," he said.

Asked to comment on similar activities carried out by the previous SP government, Singh said, "The difference is that the BJP is a brand in itself and stands for governance and transparency. The law and order situation has improved in UP, and there is no corruption. The US investments in UP are being monitored by the PMO."