Maharashtra to welcome Chinese investment, expertise: Devendra Fadnavis

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in China along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today said the state will welcome Chinese expertise and investment.

"Our country is rapidly urbanising, so our PM has unveiled his vision of making smart cities. India's most urbanised state, Maharashtra has much to contribute to it and thus would welcome Chinese expertise and investment in this sector," Fadnavis said.

The Chief Minister, who spoke about strengthening ties between Maharashtra and Chinese provinces at the 'Forum of Leaders of Regions of India and China', in a series of tweets, thanked Premier Li and Modi "for making province to province connect a reality," adding "he looks forward to stronger partnerships."

"I would look forward to more Chinese investments in Maharashtra in future," Fadnavis said.

Mumbai would welcome investments from Shanghai in some of the iconic projects like waterfront development, high speed trains, metro etc, he said.

"I am particularly happy to announce the sister city agreement being signed today between Aurangabad and Dun Huang," he said.

The two cities (Aurangabad and Dun Huang) have deep cultural similarities that date back to 4th century, he said.

The sister cities of Mumbai and Shanghai are also looking at one another with promise of mutual economic prosperity, he said.

"This province-to-province relationship provides my state an opportunity to develop and strengthen this relationship," he said.

"I am planning a special visit to the province Qingdao to learn from Chinese infrastructure development in coastal area," he said.

"China has been a significant investor in Maharashtra, investing USD 350 million as of now. We will also establish Chinese language/cultural study centre in memory of Prof JiXianLin who translated Ramayana in Chinese," Fadnavis said.

"I believe in cooperative federalism and development for all," he said.

Every third person in the world is either Chinese or Indian. In fact, the two countries contributed 50 per cent in the world economy in 1850, Fadnavis noted.

China and India are world's oldest civilizations and have ties since ancient times, he said.

Fadnavis also recalled Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis who came from Solapur and served selflessly in China.

"The people of China thanked him by setting up a memorial at Shijiazhuang," he added.