Top officials of the J&K government are in Dubai to showcase the heritage of Kashmir Valley and also impress investors in the UAE to invest in J&K. They will be joined by Lt Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha later this week to hold various business meetings.
Sinha along with other government officials from J&K will have government-to-business, business to government and government-to-government meetings and invite global investors to invest across key sectors like tourism, handloom and handicraft besides food processing among others, a government spokesman said.
"Kashmir valley will be a key destination for the development of hotels, hospitals, handloom and horticulture while Jammu will be focusing on growing sectors such as production, pharma, inland container depot and real estate", Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, J&K said speaking at the inaugural ceremony of J&K week at the India Pavilion in EXPO 2020 Dubai which started on January 3. The expo will conclude on Jan 13.
Dr Aman Puri, Consul General of India in Dubai and Deputy Commissioner General for India at Expo 2020 Dubai was also present on the occasion.
The officials maintained that they will be showing artwork of Kashmir especially handicrafts, will be talking about the tourism potential of the Valley. A number of people from the handicrafts and tourism sector of the Valley are participating in the programme.
Thakur talked about specific investment opportunities in the region claiming Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing major developments in line with the heritage of the region displayed at the pavilion.
He said that various investors in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, are showing interest in J&K. He said investors like Emaar, Noon, Lulu Group and DP World have already shown interest in J&K and will be important stakeholders in driving growth of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Our delegation from J&K will be visiting various investors to discuss the opportunities available in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
The J&K week at India Pavilion will also be visited by Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary Tourism, Mehmood Ahmad Shah, Director Industries Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Yatoo, Director Tourism Kashmir, Vivekanand Rai, Director Tourism Jammu, Bakshi Javed Humayun and Director SKICC.
Principal Secretary added J&K is working towards creating an enabling and entrepreneurial friendly environment for all which will facilitate the sustainable growth and development of Industrial enterprises including cottage industries.
In October last year Jammu and Kashmir administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai, for real estate development, industrial parks, IT towers, multipurpose towers.
Since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir administration, which is under the presidential rule under Lt Governor, and the central government is projecting J&K as a destination for investors.
Last month the government-held real estate summit in Jammu with Lt Governor asked every Indian to have a house or flat in J&K creating a furore in Kashmir as political parties described it as a move to change demography in the region.
Political parties in J&K are apprehensive of such summits. Already NC vice president Omar Abdullah has said about the real estate summit that “once again the true intentions of the government are brought to the fore. While offering to secure the land, jobs, domicile laws & identity of the people of Ladakh, J&K is being put up for sale. People of Jammu should beware, “investors” will buy up land in Jammu long before Kashmir.”
“J&Ks special status was illegally revoked to dehumanise, dispossess & disempower the only Muslim majority state in India.GOIs brazen loot & sale of our resources shows that the sole motive is to annihilate our identity & change the demography,” says PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.
