Dehradun, 17 May:
Canadian High Commissioner to India Stewart Beck and his delegation called on Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in his office at Secretariat on Thursday and expressed his country's desire to invest in education, health, energy and tourism sectors in Uttarakhand.
Chief Minister Bahuguna said that it had to be explored first in which areas Canada could invest for which a Working Group of senior officers would be constituted to do the homework. Mr. Stewart stating that Ice Hockey was very popular in Canada expressed his desire to organize Ice Hockey Tournaments in Uttarakhand. He also revealed his interest in investing in urban development and tourism. The Canada would also support in establishing Adventure Sports Academy in Uttarakhand.
Chief Minister Bahuguna told Mr. Bake that emphasis was being laid in the participation of private sectors in the state. He said that the natural resources were in abundance here. With Char Dham, Piran Kaliyar, Nanakmatta and several other religious places located in the state pilgrims from all over the world visited Uttarakhand. Mr. Bahuguna said that Uttarakhand, besides having rivers, Bugyals (Pastures), snow-clad mountains and educational institutes was also abode of healthy environment and educated people with 85 percent literacy rate. "Uttarakhand has lots of potential in tourism, energy, adventure sports, food processing and industries both small and big," he said and added that the state government was taking several steps to encourage investment. Mr. Bahuguna also apprised the High Commissioner about state's richness in water and said that the state had great power generating potential. He disclosed that the State Government was conducting mapping of areas potential for hydro-power projects through IIT Roorkee and it was also studying what effect the hydro-power projects would have on environment. After completion of mapping, the State Government would invite proposals for power generation from private sectors, he said.
Also present on the occasion were Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, Principal Secretary Industry Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary Tourism Dr. SS Sandhu, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Dilip Jawalkar amongst other senior officers.
Information and Public Relations Department
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Uttarakhand, Dehradun.
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