Switzerland-based companies have evinced interest in setting up a solar panel manufacturing plant at an initial investment of $200 million and a proposal for setting up a Rs2,000 crore mega textile park in Andhra Pradesh during Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu meetings with business delegations in Zurich on Tuesday.

Mr. Naidu, who arrived in Zurich en route Davos to participate in the three-day World Economic Forum’s annual summit, held meetings with various business delegations.

Gherzi Textile Unit submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister for setting up a Rs. 2,000-crore mega textile park. The company’s representatives, led by its chairman, Francesco Gherzi, said that the challenge in Andhra Pradesh lay in adding value to cotton production by weaving and not merely by ginning.

The Chief Minister asked the delegation to take up projects on a pilot basis and scale up later.

Another solar panel manufacturing company, Meyer Burger, too, has shown interest in establishing an export-driven project and is considering Visakhapatnam and Kakinada as suitable locations.

Mr. Naidu invited BKW Engineering Company to study the State’s hydro resources and come up with a project proposal after it offered to partner with Andhra Pradesh in the conventional energy sector.

Mr. Naidu, whose first programme on his arrival in Switzerland was a commemorative meeting on former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, organised by the Telugu Association in Zurich, invited NRIs to invest in AP by setting up new industries in the State and be a part of the State’s development process and its flagship Smart Village-Smart Ward programme.

He underlined the important role NRIs could play in providing access to markets and technology.

According to a press release, Telugu-speaking NRIs settled in Switzerland and an NRI Telugu delegation from England welcomed the Chief Minister.

Mr. Naidu said AP would be developed into a knowledge and education hub. He also invited Ethical Coffee Company to explore organic coffee plantations at Araku in Visakhaptnam district and ArStaeco to participate in the ongoing e-tendering processing for waste energy in Visakhapatnam.