From Our Special Correspondent
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh: The 30th Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit will take place in Visakhapatnam on November 14–15, 2025, under the theme “Technology, Trust, and Trade: Navigating the New Geoeconomic Order.”
Jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the summit will bring together global policymakers, industry leaders, investors, and thought leaders to deliberate on strategies for inclusive and sustainable growth.
A Global Platform for Dialogue
The 2025 summit will feature seven thematic tracks: reshaping trade, the future of industrialisation, technology and innovation, sustainability and climate action, new growth models, geoeconomics, and inclusion. Sessions will include ministerial roundtables, B2B and B2G meetings, investment pavilions, and sector showcases.
Participants will include senior government ministers from India and abroad, CEOs of multinational and Indian corporations, heads of international institutions, and academia. The event aims to set a forward-looking agenda on technology-driven development, resilient trade systems, and climate-resilient growth.
The 29th Partnership Summit in 2024 brought together more than 2,000 delegates from 61 countries, including 30 overseas ministers and 30 global speakers. Building on that scale, the 2025 edition is expected to further raise the bar.
Andhra Pradesh’s Track Record
For Andhra Pradesh, hosting the Partnership Summit is not new. Under Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s leadership between 2014 and 2019, the state successfully hosted multiple editions of the summit in Visakhapatnam. These events were used as platforms to highlight Andhra’s newly created infrastructure, industrial corridors, and pro-investment policies following the bifurcation of the state.
The summits during that period helped Andhra Pradesh project itself as a reformist and forward-looking destination. MoUs worth thousands of crores were signed, many in sectors such as ports, energy, IT, food processing, and manufacturing. That track record is being invoked once again as Andhra Pradesh prepares for the 2025 edition.
At its core, the summit is about shaping global partnerships at a time of shifting economic alignments. For India, it signals resilience and openness to global trade; for Andhra Pradesh, it is a showcase of readiness.
The objectives are clear:
-
Attract foreign and domestic investment into priority sectors
-
Shape trade and technology policy dialogues
-
Promote Andhra Pradesh’s industrial potential through dedicated pavilions
-
Build networks between states, countries, and global corporations
The Andhra Push: Naidu, Lokesh and State Machinery
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has positioned himself as the political face of the summit. He has been engaging with international delegates, projecting Andhra as a state with stable leadership, abundant resources, and forward-looking policies. Naidu has been vocal about Andhra Pradesh’s focus on ports, airports, and smart industrial hubs, coupled with strong ease of doing business credentials.
Minister for IT, Electronics, and Industries, Nara Lokesh, is complementing this by leading international roadshows—including a recent one in London—to draw global investors. Lokesh has highlighted Andhra’s approval of projects worth over ₹10 lakh crore and the allocation of over one lakh acres of land for industry. His role is focused on aligning sector-specific pitches with global investor interest.
The state government machinery is working on logistics, venue infrastructure, investment showcases, and cross-departmental coordination to ensure the summit is not just a talking shop but a serious investment platform.
More than a Summit
For Andhra Pradesh, the 2025 summit is an opportunity to reassert its brand as an investment-friendly, innovation-driven state. By leveraging its past experience of hosting similar summits under Naidu, and by actively engaging the global community through Naidu and Lokesh’s outreach, the state hopes to position itself at the centre of India’s economic story in the decade ahead.
As Naidu has repeatedly said, Andhra Pradesh’s goal is to create wealth, build infrastructure, and deliver prosperity. The CII Partnership Summit 2025 is intended to be a springboard toward that ambition.