Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Economic development Board (APEDB) won the Gold Award for being the best organisation in India, for investment promotion and project facilitation, at the 55th Skoch Summit held in New Delhi.

The Skoch awards celebrate human excellence and agents of change in the Indian society. APEDB chief executive officer Jasti Krishna Kishore and special commissioner Bhavana Saxena received the awards and presented them to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here on Sunday.

The APEDB won the Gold Award, for contributing towards economic growth, employment generation and establishing a globally competitive investment climate, capable of quickly responding to fast changing global economic and technological scenario.

The APEDB has spearheaded over 86 inbound international delegations and 111 outbound delegations within three years by elevating the status of partnership with organisations from various countries including South Korea, UK, Japan, China, Europe, United States, Singapore, Malaysia and Russia. Over 25 billion USD of committed investments from marquee companies are in the pipeline, due the efforts of APEDB.

The board is responsible for marquee investments like Kia Motors, Asia Pulp and Paper, Saint Gobain, THK, Toray, Lixil, Arvind Mills and Rockman Industries.

APEDB CEO J Krishna Kishore says, "Created by an Act of the State Legislature, the APEDB is unique in design, structure and thinking and owes its remarkable success to the independent and holistic mandate given by the government. Chaired and guided by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the Board is flexible and efficient with a future-ready dynamic talent pool.

This has resulted in the immense contribution by APEDB to the development of Andhra Pradesh." He further says, "This award is a testimony to the confidence among investors that the institution dealing with them is adequately empowered in determining the nature of support the government can provide for their investments.

At the heart of APEDB's values and ethos, is a young, talented, skilled and agile workforce that is capable of working round-the-clock to achieve development goals. Hand-picked from top institutes, this young workforce are proactive and go beyond business as usual," Kishore added.

The Chief Minister said the Skoch award to Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board is an eloquent testimony to the excellent work being put up by the Board to promote Andhra Pradesh as the foremost destination for investments. The APEDB team worked remarkably to promote Andhra Pradesh in India and abroad and has contributed to the growth of the State.