Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu addressed the World Cities Summit in Singapore on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, making the case that cities must be built around people and their aspirations, with Amaravati held up as a working example of that philosophy.

Context

Posting from the sidelines of the biennial forum, Naidu stated: 'Cities must be built around people and their aspirations. That has always been my belief.' He described his address to the summit as an opportunity to explain how 'vision, planning and the right ecosystem can create opportunities for millions.' The summit, hosted in Singapore, brings together city leaders, urban planners, and policymakers from across the world to exchange ideas on governance and sustainable development.

Naidu's appearance at the forum is part of a broader international engagement strategy aimed at attracting investment and expertise to Andhra Pradesh, particularly for the greenfield capital project at Amaravati.

Policy Backdrop

Amaravati was announced as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh following the state's bifurcation in June 2014, which resulted in the creation of Telangana and left the residual state without an established administrative headquarters. Naidu, who has championed the project since its inception, initiated a land-pooling model that brought together thousands of farmers from surrounding villages to contribute land in exchange for developed plots.

In 2015, the Andhra Pradesh government signed cooperation agreements with Singapore-based entities to develop the Amaravati master plan and sustainability framework, making Singapore a foundational partner in the city's conceptual design. Naidu's return to Singapore for the World Cities Summit carries symbolic weight, reinforcing that bilateral connection.

The chief minister framed Amaravati's development around three pillars: livability, sustainability, and opportunity — principles he described as ensuring that 'growth translates into a better quality of life for every citizen.' The post was tagged with the investment-promotion hashtags #InvestInAP and #ChooseSpeedChooseAP, signalling that the summit appearance was also a pitch to global investors.

Stakeholders and Impact

For Andhra Pradesh citizens, particularly the farming communities who participated in the land-pooling scheme around Amaravati, the pace and scale of capital development directly determines when promised infrastructure, services, and economic activity materialise. Urban investors and multinational firms evaluating locations in southern India are the secondary audience for Naidu's remarks at a forum of this profile.

State leaders across India regularly use global urban forums to position greenfield projects and compete for foreign capital, and Naidu's participation continues that pattern. The emphasis on livability and opportunity is designed to differentiate Amaravati from competing investment destinations at a time when states such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka are also active on the international investment circuit.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether Naidu's Singapore visit produces concrete follow-up commitments — investment pledges, technical cooperation agreements, or project financing announcements — linked to his World Cities Summit address. Any state cabinet decisions on Amaravati's next development phases or budget allocations for the capital region will be closely watched as a measure of whether the global messaging translates into on-ground momentum.

With the #InvestInAP campaign running in parallel, the government is expected to publish a pipeline of investment opportunities tied to the summit outreach in the weeks ahead.