Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, Sunday called upon the captains of Indian industries and foreign investors to look at Odisha which offers “enormous business and growth opportunities.”

Patnaik, declaring open the five-day Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2018, said, “I welcome you to discover the enormous business and growth opportunities that the state offers, and also the all-round development the state has seen in the past two decades.”

The chief minister, who also inaugurated an Expo organised as part of the Conclave, said the Expo which is showcasing the success stories of industries that are located in the state is in fact exhibiting the industrial prowess of Odisha.

On day one the Conclave was graced by a host of dignitaries including Japanese ambassador to India, Kenji Hiramatsu and consul generals of several other countries, besides captains of Indian industries.

Patnaik said, “Odisha is emerging as a manufacturing hub of the east and we are incessantly working towards developing it as a global hub for industries in certain focus sectors.”  He urged the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), which is the official partner of the Odisha government for the Conclave,  to coordinate with the departments in successful implementation of the state’s ‘Vision 2025’ for industrial development in six focus sectors.

The plennary session of the Conclave, scheduled to be held from Monday, would be attended by  top corporae honchos like Mukesh Ambani, Anil Agarwal, N Chandrasekaran, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anand Mohindra, Goutam Adani and Naveen Jindal besides  800 other industry leaders.

Representatives from Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Group and Tata Group, Vedanta Resources and industry delegation from at least six countries — South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — are expected to attend the state’s flagship biennial business event here.

Mukesh Ambani will be the star speaker at the Business Leadership Summit to be organised just after plenary session of the conclave.

The state industries minister, Ananta Das, said that the first edition of the conclave was held in 2016 where the state had received investment proposals worth Rs 2 lakh crore.