Vijayawada: IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh met top executives of Foxconn, Cisco, Mastercard, and Philip Morris at the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos on Tuesday. He also participated in a round table conference on clean energy and artificial intelligence.
During his meeting with the CEO of ZF Foxconn Chassis Modules, Lokesh highlighted Andhra Pradesh‘s rapid growth in the automobile sector, mentioning that renowned companies like Kia and Isuzu have set up their passenger car manufacturing units in the state.
He also mentioned that bus manufacturing OEMs like Ashok Leyland, Veera, and Azad Mobility are looking to expand their operations in AP, which now has a favourable investment environment. He urged ZF Foxconn to set up a chassis modules manufacturing unit in AP, and mentioned Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Anantapur as strategic locations for automobile manufacturing and supply chain setup.
Lokesh met Cisco vice-president Francine Katsoudas and urged him to set up a global capacity center in Visakhapatnam. He also met top officials of Mastercard and suggested setting up a development centre in AP to help expand Mastercard’s operations in the South.
Earlier, he participated in a round table discussion on ‘Environmental Protection – The Future of Climate Movement’ organised by Swaniti and moderated by Swaniti Initiative CEO Ritvika Bhattacharya.
The discussion was attended by notable figures such as Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah, former Portuguese PM José Manuel Barroso, UNESCAP chief scientist Dr Marga Gual Soler, Seed Fund executive director Vikas Mehta, Indonesian National Development minister Rachmat Pambudi, Indika Energy president Arsjad Rasjid, and ReNew Power Zinc CEO Vaishali Nigam Sinha.
