Thursday, 26 May 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The ambassador of India to the Republic of Slovenia, Namrata S Kumar and ambassador of India to the Republic of Tajikistan, Viraj Singh met the Industries secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey on Wednesday to discuss the possibilities of trade and association between the State and the republics concerned. Various matters of mutual interest were discussed and some possible consensus and ways forward were identified for further discussions in the future. This meeting was also attended by Industries director general Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Industries director SC Nautiyal and others from the Industries department. Later, the two ambassadors visited the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIIDCUL) office to discuss possibilities for industrial development across the various Integrated Industrial Estates (IIEs) that SIIDCUL has developed and managed over the years. The meeting was chaired by Chauhan in the presence of SIIDCUL general manager PC Dumka and other officials. Various areas of consonance were discussed with both the ambassadors being apprised about IIEs, the infrastructure IIEs offer and the prominent industries functional in the State. Talking about the strengths of Slovenia, Kumar informed that Slovenia and Uttarakhand are quite similar in terms of geography, topographic landscape and forest cover. She stressed upon green tech tourism and how it can be developed in Uttarakhand. She also spoke of mountain sports tourism, Yoga, Ayurveda and other AYUSH related activities, and how they can be developed in the State and branded overall with progressive intent. Talking about Tajikistan, Singh emphasised upon the population base of Tajikistan and the low country land cover for productive use, but still the country has managed to grow based on niche branding and marketing strategies being applied to drive growth. He spoke about agro-products being exported to India from Tajikistan and how high-quality saffron is being driven to Indian shores through the Iranian route. He spoke about creating a value chain and ecosystem with backward and forward linkages to drive agro investments to Uttarakhand.
