Maritime Summit starts today, govt expects to clinch deals worth Rs 82,000 crore

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Union Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said, “Port-led development is high on priority of the government. It has the potential of creating one crore jobs, 40 lakh directly and 60 lakh indirectly in the next five years. The summit will open a new era of international cooperation in the maritime sector.”

The summit will host 72 speakers addressing thematic sessions and over 3,000 delegates, including 300 international delegates.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar, Narendra Singh Tomar, Sushma Swaraj and ministers of State Nirmala Seetharaman, Piyush Goyal, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and Dharmendra Pradhan are also expected to attend the seminar among other leaders.

Chief ministers of states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa will also participate in the summit. Over 120 business and concession agreements, worth over Rs 82,000 crore, have been planned to be signed at the summit, which is being organised with South Korea as the partner country.

The Union government is also likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea for port development and operations. Besides, 20 letters of intent for investments worth Rs 8,260 crore will also be exchanged, as per a statement from the government.

The summit will feature 13 thematic sessions on topics such as the Union government’s Sagarmala project for port-led development, ship building, ship repair and ship breaking, maritime education and training, inland water transportation, cruise shipping and lighthouse tourism, hinterland connectivity and so on.