Andhra Pradesh government inks pact with Malaysia's PEMANDU

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Government today signed an MoU with Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) under Malaysian Prime Minister's Department for cooperation in areas of performance management and monitoring of public programmes, education and retail services.

The agreement was inked between Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society and Ex Officio Special Secretary to government, Planning Department, Sanjay Gupta, and PEMANDU Director Ravindran Devagunam.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and PEMANDU CEO and Special Advisor (with ministerial status) to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, were also present on the occasion.

The signing comes in less than a month after NITI Aayog entered into an MoU with PEMANDU in Malaysia, under which PEMANDU and the Centre would work as partners in rolling out impactful and meaningful public sector initiatives in the national and state level, according to a state government release issued here.

Expressing pleasure over AP being the first state to partner with PEMANDU, Naidu said, PEMANDU's emphasis on governance and structural changes would help the state achieve its "goal of being the best state in the country by 2029 and the best destination (for investments and others) in the world by 2050".

"Our aim is to focus on inclusive growth, poverty alleviation and wealth creation; PEMANDU's partnership with the State government will clear roadblocks and accelerate our state's growth," Naidu was quoted as saying in the release.