UK Dy. High Commissioner bats for Vizag as admin capital

He compares Visakhapatnam with cities such as Rio de Janeiro and San Sebastian

The British Deputy High Commissioner for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Andrew Fleming finds Vizag as the most attractive and suitable city for an administrative capital. He said the city has a unique cosmopolitan character and high potential for investment and growth. Speaking at a special interaction in Vijayawada on August 12, Mr. Fleming said, “Vizag has a lot of potential for investments and tourism. The State government can market that potential. We were probably the first to make such move with HSBC, a British company in Vizag, providing employment to huge number of people. Whoever goes to Vizag, would like to return to the place once again. I’ll be very happy to go there time and again and spend time there. In fact, the city resembles the globally attractive destinations such as Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro and Spanish resort town San Sabastian.” Mr. Fleming is understood to have toured over 100 countries. Speaking about trade and investments, Mr. Fleming said the United Kingdom and India did well despite Covid challenges. “We have interests in Health, Energy and Education. We already have some MoUs and are in the process of making certain major tie ups in near future. While the realised trade by UK firms in Telugu states is about 50 million pounds, the Indian companies did 70 million [pounds] worth of business which includes investments. We took up several initiatives to promote trade. Indian investors are now finding it more comfortable in doing business in UK,” he added.