State to host global investors' meet

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 3. Kerala will be hosting a global investors' meet in six months' time to showcase the investment opportunities in the State.

The programme is being charted out with the Chief Minister himself at the helm since it is designed to attract investments in all sectors of the State's economy.

In preparation for the meet, the departments concerned have been directed to prepare portfolios of schemes on which investor interest can be expected. ``We have already set the ball rolling,'' said the Industries Minister, Mr. P.K. Kunhalikutty, at a press conference today.

A committee constituted by the ruling United Democratic Front to formulate strategies for bringing investments into the State had an interaction with leading industrialists in the State today.

It was held to gather their views on what the Government could do at the policy level and the promotional level to make the campaign a success.

``We have already got the draft of an `Infrastructure Development Bill' ready. The laws have to be made effective for dealing with issues which inhibit the flow of private investments into the State. By the time we hold the global investors' meet here, everything should be in place. The meet, hopefully, will be an event with a definite outcome in the form of clinched deals,'' he said.

Mr. Kunhalikutty said there would be a series of interactions with other sections also before the blueprint for the global investors' meet was finalised. ``At the Government level, we will be discussing the issues with the Opposition. Further, as at today's meeting with the industrialists, we will be gathering the views of experts in other sectors like biotechnology, ayurveda, tourism, information technology etc. on what the Government should do,'' he said.

Mr. Kunhalikutty said the UDF Government's labour policy and information technology policy too were under preparation. ``In the case of information technology, we are not saying that a new policy is needed because of the flaws in the policy announced by the previous LDF Government. But, this field is a fast changing one, and the policy will have to be modified from time to time. For instance, the slowdown in the U.S. was not visualised a year back. Also, there is this view that we should be giving a lot more stress on tapping the opportunities in hardware business, rather than concentrating solely on software business,'' he said.

The UDF committee for investment promotion is chaired by Mr. Oommen Chandy, MLA. He could not attend today's meet with the industrialists due to indisposition.

Members who attended the meeting included the KPCC chief, Mr. K. Muraleedharan, the senior Congress leader, Mr. Vayalar Ravi, the Agriculture Minister, Mrs. K. R. Gouri, the Revenue Minister, Mr. K. M. Mani, the RSP(B) leader, Prof. A.V. Thamarakshan, and the Minister for Ports and Cooperation, Mr. M. V. Raghavan.

Mr. Vayalar Ravi, who attended the press conference too, said all sections would have to cooperate to change the popular concept about Kerala's labour. ``If you take an objective look at the situation, the fact is that the workers in the organised sector here could not be blamed for the trouble. It is the unorganised sector which is giving the State a bad name. We should take the working class into confidence and take whatever measures are needed to rectify the situation,'' he said.

Mr. Thamarakshan chipped in with the observation that the people had big expectations from this Government, as reflected by the massive mandate with which the UDF had come to power. ``As everyone knows, the resources of the Government are limited. The economy could be retrieved only by attracting private investments into the State,'' he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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