Developer among state delegation for Davos meet

Mumbai: A 13-member delegation from the state, including chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and industries minister Uday Samant, is expected to attend the World Economic Forum at Davos between January 15 and 20.The delegation will include developer Ajay Ashar, a close associate of Shinde, who has been appointed vice-chairman of the Maharashtra Institute for Transformation (MITRA), the state’s think-tank along the lines of the NITI Aayog. Others in the delegation will include chief secretary Manukumar Srivastava, additional chief secretary (CMO) Bhushan Gagrani, industries secretary Harshdeep Kamble, MIDC CEO Vipin Sharma and OSD to Fadnavis Kaustubh Dhavse.“Maharashtra will have its own pavilion where meetings will be conducted. We hope to ink twice the number of MoUs that had been achieved during the MVA regime. We hope that MoUs worth Rs 60,000 crore will be struck in Davos,” said industries minister Uday Samant. Incidentally, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray had said that the MVA government had generated investments worth Rs 80,000 crore in Davos. —Priyanka Kakodkar