Clinton makes no secret of his admiration for Naidu

Clinton makes no secret of his admiration for Naidu
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

HYDERABAD, MARCH 24: United States President Bill Clinton had lot of good things to say about Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who has already received international acclaim for his new initiatives in governance.

Addressing a gathering of industrialists at Hi-tec city here on Friday, Clinton said that Naidu was becoming well-known in the US and was very much admired for his "remarkable achievements."

The President said that Naidu deserved a lot of credit for giving the people of the State the right kind of governance. "If you look at the example of this State, you see that we need a different kind of government - it can be smaller, far less bureaucratic and far more market-oriented," he remarked.

Clinton also appreciated the manner in which the State Government was involving the people in the implementation of economic as well as other programmes through self-help groups.

Speaking to newspersons at the airport after Clinton left for Mumbai, Naidu said, "we talked one-to-one for 20 minutes and exchanged views on various issues. Clinton is happy with what we have achieved," the Chief Minister said.

Naidu felt that the State would gain substantially from the visit of the President. Besides the immediate gains in Information Technology sector, the State would get international recognition from this trip, he pointed out.

He said that the offer for one-to-one meet with Clinton came from their side adding that Clinton was very much impressed by the awareness among women of the DWCRA group. "We have discussed several things, including Information Technology and mutual cooperation for overall development of the State," he said.

The visiting President expressed keenness to cooperate with the Andhra Pradesh government. Naidu did not rule out the possibility of visiting the US in the near future to follow-up the issues discussed on Friday.