Syed Amin Jafri | Rediff.com | Nov 22, 2002
United States Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill on Thursday was all praise for the strides made by Andhra Pradesh in fields of information technology, e-governance, micro-credit, empowerment of women, rehabilitation of street children and AIDS control.
O’Neill, on a day’s visit to the state, had a hectic eight-hour schedule.
He began his day with a visit to Shamshabad town, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, where he was briefed on a micro-credit programme aimed at economic uplift of rural women.
He also visited an E-seva center, interacted with AIDS/HIV patients at a hospital, saw the Hitec City at Madhapur and went round Microsoft’s India Development Centre, before rounding off his day with a visit to a non-government organisation at Chandanagar.
US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill accompanied O’Neill.
At Shamshabad, the treasury secretary interacted for about 90 minutes with some beneficiaries of a micro-credit programme run by Share Microfin Limited, a community-run micro-finance institution.
O’Neill assured he would look into the possibility of arranging assistance from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and American banks to fund the programme.
He visited an E-seva center in the city where people can access as many as 32 government and private-sector services on the Internet.
In a brief chat with reporters, he lauded the technological initiatives of the Andhra Pradesh government. “I have not seen anything like this before. I am impressed by the effective use of technology to converge the services of federal, state and local governments under one roof,” he said.
Later, the treasury secretary spent some time with AIDS patients at an AIDS center run by a non-government organisation — Freedom Foundation — at Bolarum.
He said the United States and the Bush Administration are committed to fighting AIDS globally. He said latest treatments and technologies should be made available across the world to help affected persons.
On Wednesday night, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met O’Neill and briefed him about various initiatives and projects of his government to make Hyderabad an important financial hub.
Naidu also hosted a dinner in the visiting dignitary’s honour.
