Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, July 30 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Monday said that 21 countries and 1,600 delegates have now registered for the Emerging Kerala investment meet to be held at Kochi in September.

The flagship global connect programme of the state government, Emerging Kerala 2012, to be held from Sep 12-14, is being organised by the state government with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and NASSCOM as partners. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“This event is going to be very crucial for the state because our state is badly in need of investments because we have reached a stage of no return. The biggest advantage we have today is we are a state where there is no labour unrest,” Chandy told reporters here.

Chandy had called a meeting of all political parties Monday but the Left opposition boycotted the meetings, alleging that this investment meet was meant to give a boost to real estate business and hand over the mining sector to the private sector.

However, the chief minister dismissed the charges, saying they have not come out with any new policies but only taken forward those of the previous V.S. Achuthanandan government.

“We have no ego problems and we will still approach the opposition to cooperate with us because our only aim is prosperity for our state by getting investments into all sectors,” he said.

He also clarified that the mining activities will be handled only in the public sector, but when it comes to processing, private players also will be considered.

Giving a boost to the efforts, a delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM INDIA) called on Chandy and said that they would participate besides announcing that US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell would attend the summit.

The state owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is the nodal agency for the summit which will now be held every other year .