3 days ago
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IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh emphasised Andhra Pradesh (A.P.)’s increasing value successful planetary maritime commercialized and logistics and said the State was positioned to play a strategical relation connected India’s eastbound seaboard and service arsenic a gateway to the country’s hinterland thereby strengthening economical connectivity betwixt India and Russia.
Participating successful the New Frontiers successful Global Logistics and the Arctic Logistics Framework Dialogue astatine St. Petersburg International Economic Forum-2026 (SPIEF) connected Friday, Mr. Lokesh said the Arctic was emerging arsenic a captious origin successful shaping the aboriginal of planetary trade, vigor security, and assets proscription and that countries similar India were diversifying their vigor sources, strengthening electronics manufacturing and securing entree to captious minerals. He stressed that these developments unfastened important avenues for collaboration betwixt the 2 countries.
Highlighting A.P.’s maritime strengths, Mr. Lokesh said the State has a astir 1,000 kilometre-long-coastline, six operational ports and has respective much ports nether improvement and underlined the request to research caller maritime routes and physique resilient proviso chains successful airy of caller geopolitical challenges. He said the Arctic shipping routes were progressively becoming important due to the fact that they assistance successful reducing cargo transit times and creating resilient logistics networks.
Further, the Minister pointed to India’s increasing manufacturing ambitions nether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make successful India initiative and said portion India imports vigor resources, it could export manufactured products and make balanced commercialized opportunities done emerging logistics corridors.
He stated that 25% of each investments attracted to India implicit the past 2 years person travel to A.P., adding that it was poised to go a cardinal subordinate successful manufacturing, logistics, and export hub successful the years ahead.
Investment successful aluminium sector
Later, Mr. Lokesh held discussions with elder enactment of RUSAL, 1 of the world’s largest aluminium producers, connected the sidelines of SPIEF. He took banal of the advancement of RUSAL’s concern successful Pioneer Aluminium Industries, successful which the institution acquired a 26% involvement successful March 2025. Located successful A.P., Pioneer is operating a 1.50 MTPA alumina refinery that serves some home and planetary markets.
He requested RUSAL to see establishing downstream aluminium smelting capableness alongside the existing alumina refinery, saying that the enlargement would alteration the conversion of alumina produced successful A.P. into superior aluminium, creating substantially higher worth addition, employment and export opportunities wrong India.
Besides, the 2 sides discussed the anticipation of processing a afloat integrated aluminium manufacturing ecosystem successful A.P. by leveraging the State’s concern infrastructure, deep-water ports, logistics connectivity and increasing renewable vigor capacity. The company’s elder executives said they would measure the proposals discussed during the gathering and research aboriginal opportunities for expanding successful the State.
