Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, June 13:
Aurangabad, the tourism capital of Maharashtra, is in the
reckoning as a venue for one of the ministerial-level meetings preceding the G20 Leaders Summit to be held in December 2023.
The three members delegation from the union Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) was headed by the joint secretary (summits) L Ramesh Babu. The central team was on a two-days tour to the city on June 10 and 11.
The delegation arrived on Friday, held a meeting with all the local stakeholders in the city in a five-star hotel in the evening and toured the world heritage Ajanta and Ellora Caves on Saturday and left the city in the evening.
A total of around 300 delegates from 40 different countries of G20 are expected to visit the historic city for two days. They will be conducting ministerial-level meetings and visiting the two world heritage sites, apart from other important places and sites, during their stay, it is learnt.
The additional collector Anant Gavhane said," I accompanied the central team on their visit to Ajanta and Ellora Caves on Saturday. They were highly impressed on seeing the world heritage sites. The meetings with all the bureaucrats of different government offices concerned and other stakeholders including industrial and tourism organisations on Friday evening also turned out to be successful.”
The G20 summit is in 2023. Before the main event, a series of meetings between the delegates of G20 countries will be held in different parts of India. A few more meetings and visits will be there in this regard before the finalisation of the Aurangabad destination. I am very hopeful that we would be seeing another delegation regarding the G20 summit soon, said Gavhane.
MoEA’s query in meeting
The central delegation was searching for good infrastructure (hotels and restaurants) of international standard to accommodate the foreign delegates; auditoriums or banquet halls to conduct seminars and meetings; measures to provide security to the foreign visitors; modes of transportation leading to different heritage sites and places; and other unique selling points (USP) of Aurangabad.
It is hoped that the selection of the city will open new avenues for the city; help attract investments; provide an international platform to market the local industrial and unique products; brings progress and prosperity to the city, etc. The MoEA had sent its different delegations for the same purpose to Kerala, Kochi, Indore etc since March 2022.
Top brass in the close-door meeting
The meeting held on Friday evening between the central team and all the top brass of the city in the five-star hotel was kept confidential. The meeting was attended by 20-30 members including the bureaucrats and representatives from the District Collectorate, Commissioner of Police, Zilla Parishad, Superintendent of Police, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, Tourism Directorate, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) etc. The office-bearers and representatives of various industrial and tourism (service industry) organisations also attended the meeting.