Annise Parker is the mayor of the world’s energy capital, Houston, in Texas state in the US. In New Delhi to boost bilateral trade and joint investment initiatives in various sectors including oil and gas, civil aviation and healthcare, Parker led a 30-member delegation to assess opportunities for engagement.
In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18’s Malvika Jain, Parker says Houston, with over 1 lakh residents of Indian origin, has a strong connection with India.
The city is home to 700 companies currently doing business with India. So the city's mayor, is in the capital making a strong pitch to attract further investment specifically to aid manufacturing for sectors like energy, healthcare and aviation.
Mayor Parker believes the regulatory environment in the city is good enough to attract investors including an incentive scheme which is linked to job creation
“The Make in India message resonates with Houston companies so we think that --we believe that we already had a relationship but it’s better to grow your existing relationships than to try to start one from scratch so that’s why we are here,” Parker says.
When asked what kind of opportunities or partnerships he foresaw in India, the Houston mayor said after oil and gas and tonnage, a big sector of its economy was medicine.
“At the Texas Medical Center, we have the largest aggregation of medical facilities anywhere on earth but what we don’t do a good job of is taking cutting age medicine we do and the new techniques and equipment that we pioneer and putting them in a manufacturing mode,” he says. “And so there are opportunities to link up with Indian companies that might be interested in working with us to create the market.”
Bilateral trade between India and Houston has more than quadrupled between 2004 and 2014 and totals USD 4.7 billion per annum.
Bob Pertierra, Greater Houston Partnership, Chief Economic Development Officer, says that while Houston is known for the energy sector, manufacturing across several areas was also very strong
“Medicine, education, biotech are also targets for us as well as transportation and logistics service providers,” he says.
Pertierra adds that while there are incentives based on capital investments and job creation that the state of Texas as well as local economic development entities in the region offers, the Greater Houston Partnership Chamber of Commerce would facilitate and help companies navigate the different applications that need to be made to get those incentives.
“There are incentives for companies that are making significant investments,” he says.
With the sixth largest airport system in the world, Houston wants a direct flight from New Delhi. It is presently in talks with two carriers including Air India and hopes to seal a deal soon.
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