State seeks U.S. investment

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 19. Although nothing concrete relating to the State emerged out of the short visit of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Dr. Lawrence H.Summers, to the city today, it afforded an opportunity to the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, to invite American investment to the State.

The Government also attached significance to the fact that besides Delhi and Mumbai, Bangalore was the only place Dr. Summers was visiting.

Besides extending an invitation to the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, to visit Bangalore, the Government also made a plea for opening an American Consulate in the city. (The city had only an American Information Centre till 1968 when it was closed down along with those in some other cities following a decision taken by the then External Affairs Minister, the late Dinesh Singh).

Besides the Chief Minister, the Minister for Large Industries, Mr. R. V. Deshpande, participated in the 20-minute talks.

Addressing the press briefly after his meeting with the Chief Minister, Dr. Summers described Bangalore as a laboratory of new technology industries. He was happy to be here. Describing his talks with Mr. Krishna as useful, he said that they would help in forging cooperation in the field of economic development. ``I am encouraged by what the Chief Minister said.'' Lauding Indian democracy, he said that Mr. Clinton was looking forward to visiting India.

Mr. Krishna said he had explained to the visiting American official the opportunities afforded by Karnataka for American investment. Apart from Bangalore, there were places such as Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore and Mangalore which could be selected for investment. He also told Dr. Summers that besides laying emphasis on Information Technology and other fields of modern technology, the Government was paying equal attention to the development of the rural sector.

TV boycott

Private television networks boycotted Dr. Summers' visit to the city today protesting against the refusal of the U.S. security officials to allow them to cover his meeting with the Chief Minister.

It is stated that the security officials were unrelenting despite a request made on behalf of the television crews by the Chief Minister himself. The TV crews had been held back close to the Committee Room of the Vidhana Soudha where the brief meeting took place. They left after being told of the stand of the U.S. security officials. However, it was not the private television networks alone which were kept out. Even newspaper photographers were denied entry into the venue of the meeting. It is learnt that only the Doordarshan crew was allowed inside for a while.

Even the press conference addressed by Dr. Summers was open only to a limited number of journalists. When the journalists brought to his notice the protest voiced by the television crews, Dr. Summers said he was unaware of what led to it.

He was accompanied by a group of U.S. journalists.

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Section  : Regional
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