Baku, May 4 (IANS) Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday sought closer engagement of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for development of smart cities, industrial corridors and railways in his country.
“In addition to supporting conventional infrastructure projects, we would like a deeper engagement on development of smart cities, industrial corridors, rail transport and manufacturing and job creation through flagship initiatives of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’,” Jaitley said at the ADB’s 48th annual meeting in Azerbaijan’s capital.
“Our goal is to place the Indian economy on a high and sustained growth trajectory through focus on infrastructure development, skills development, improving ease of doing business and economic reforms including comprehensive social safety net and fiscal discipline,” he added.
“India is expected to grow at 7.5-8 percent in both 2015 and 2016. This only reaffirms India’s fascinating growth prospects. In a time span of less than a year, our government has taken a number of steps to revive the economy,” he said.
Jaitley urged the ADB to aim at an annual business of $20 billion by 2020.
“Twenty by Twenty should be our corporate goal, the mantra. ADB not only needs to become bigger, it also needs to become better, as a model among the MDBs (multilateral development banks),” he said.
“I urge ADB to continue with its thrust on regional cooperation not only within South Asia but also between South Asia and rest of Asia,” he added.