“UP is becoming a progressive economy aligning with the objectives of the GoI” UP Minister ShriSidharthNath Singh

Praising the Global Exhibition on Services 2019 held in Bengaluru during 26-28^th November 2019 Shri Sidharth Nath Singh, Cabinet Minister: MSME, Investment & Export, Textile, Khadi & Gram Udyog, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh said in the valedictory session on UP State - The Next Growth Engine for Services Exports that Uttar Pradesh (UP) has a large heritage and history and one of the oldest city in the world – Varanasi is part of UP State. With a rich culture and demographic dividend, the state Government with blessings and support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is attempting to build Brand UP - a knowledge based economy. He said that we have picked IT, Education, Tourism, Skilling etc as priority sector for export promotion from the state.

Addressing a large gathering, Cabinet Minister Singh added that the number of startups have greatly increased in UP. Tourism has immense potential with Buddhist, Jain and Ramayana circuits of tourism promoted by the state. In 2019, around 240 million tourists that is more than the population of the state visited Kumbh Mela, which was organized in line with swachh Bharat Abhiyan in a neat, clean and defecation free method. He also expressed his willingness to host the GES 2020 in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh was the Partner State for GES 2019.

Shri Navneet Sehgal, Principal Secretary, MSME, Export Promotion, Khadi& Village Industry, Government of Uttar Pradesh stated that IT sector in UP is progressing fast, aiming to become IT hub. While goods exports are high and growing by an average of 10 percent, it has not yet been ventured into services. He reiterated that UP is planning to have a focused policy towards services exports very soon. UP is so serious about exports that now we have a ministry for export and investment which works in coordination with MoC.

Shri Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Commerce & Industries, Government of Karnataka echoed that they have identified 6 sectors out of the 12 champion sectors to initially focus upon. Services sector has rightly been identified as a growing sector in the country. He added that International Moot Court Competition on IPR, International E-sports were some of the highlights of GES 2019.

Delivering the Concluding Remarks, Shri Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India said, “what India is to the rest of the world – in terms of the population, UP is to India and what Silicon Valley is to the US, Karnataka is to India”. He added that GES 2019 is the best amongst all 5 editions of GES. He was happy to announce that the next GES will be in the first week of May 2020. He thanked the state government of Karnataka, SEPC and CII for partnering the largest services exhibition cum conference and making it a successful event.

In the last three days, 3,500 delegates, 668 foreign buyers from 78 countries, 11 ministries, 25 knowledge sessions and 7,400 visitors attended the event. During this edition of GES 2019, three MOUs were signed. State Government of Karnataka released Services Exports Strategy which identified 6 of the 12 champion sectors to promote exports. Shri Sunil H Talati, Vice Chairman, SEPC represented SEPC to deliver welcome Address and Shri. Aman Choudhari, Chairman, CII Karnataka State Council and Managing Director, Surin Automotive Pvt Ltd represented CII to deliver Vote of Thanks. Ms. Sangita Godbole, Director General, SEPC moderated the UP State cum Valedictory Session. At the end of the session, prizes were distributed to the winners of International Moot Court Competition and International E-Sports competition by the hands of Shri Sidhhart Nath Singh, Justice Manmohan Singh (Rtd.) and Justice Gururam Venkata Seethapathy (Retd).