Aurangabad hopes to push Trade and Tourism

for exploring culture, tourism potential and avenues in the industrial sector.

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Sept 1:

India is the host of the G20 summit to be held in Delhi between November 2022 and December 2023. It is believed that the international delegates will be visiting the tourism capital - Aurangabad - during the summit. Hence efforts are being made to showcase the tourism and trade potential through visits to the industrial sectors and the heritage monuments including world heritage Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves. It is hoped that the union Government will make an official announcement about the visits soon.

This is being looked upon as a big opportunity for Aurangabad in terms of tourism along with industrial investment. Hence a combined meeting of all key officials has been scheduled, to discuss further planning, on Monday. The divisional commissioner, collector, municipal commissioner, police commissioner, superintendent of police and the Department of Tourism (DoT) officials will attend the meeting.

Earlier, a three-member delegation of the union Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) headed by joint secretary (summits) L Ramesh Babu along with the additional collector Anant Gavhane had seen the Ajanta and Ellora Caves on June 10 and 11, this year. The delegation was impressed with the details of the possible arrangements in Aurangabad compared to Mumbai, Pune and Nashik cities. They collected the details like the availability of star hotels, halls and auditoriums, and transportation facilities.

The international delegates and representatives will also be visiting 40 to 50 important cities in India. Hence there is a strong possibility that any one group of NGOs, embassies, or foreign higher officials would be visiting Aurangabad as a part of the summit. Meanwhile, the host wanted to leave no stone unturned to also apprise the foreign delegates about the investment opportunities in the local industrial sectors, apart from tourism potential.

Delegates to stay for 3 days

The G20 countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, England, United States and European Union. A team of 200 to 250 higher officials from any of these countries may visit Aurangabad and their stay in the city would be for at least 3 days, it is guessed.