Davos, Jan 20: In a significant move to strengthen bilateral economic ties, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met with the UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026.
The meeting, held at the Davos Congress Centre, focused on leveraging Andhra Pradesh’s long coastline and the UAE’s expertise in global trade to create a robust logistics and infrastructure corridor.
CM Naidu, known as the “Davos Man” for his long-standing presence at the forum, pitched Andhra Pradesh as the “Gateway to the East” for Middle Eastern investors. The discussions primarily centered on Potential UAE investments in the development of minor ports and logistics hubs along the AP coastline. Collaborations to develop world-class hospitality and spiritual tourism circuits in the state. Leveraging AP’s agricultural surplus to serve the UAE’s food security needs through dedicated “Agri-Export Zones.”
“Andhra Pradesh and the UAE share a vision of innovation-led growth. We invited the UAE to be a key partner in our journey to build a $2 trillion state economy by 2047,” the Chief Minister stated following the meeting.
The meeting with the UAE delegation is part of a high-octane 36-programme schedule for the Chief Minister. Earlier in the day, Naidu also engaged with Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran discussing the expansion of TCS and Air India’s footprint in Amaravati and Visakhapatnam. Naidu is also scheduled to meet CEOs from IBM, Google Cloud, and NVIDIA focused on establishing an “AI University” and “AI Creative Tech Hub” in Andhra Pradesh.
