MHA nod for CM’s visit to U.S., U.K.
MGR was the last T.N. CM to go to the West to woo investors
14/08/2019, T. RAMAKRISHNAN,CHENNAI
When Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami leaves later this month for a 10-day visit to the United Kingdom and the United States to attract industrial investments, he will be the first Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to go to the West in 40 years.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs formally gave its clearance for the CM’s visit. Now, the file will make its way to the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval from PM Narendra Modi.
Between late October and early December in 1978, M.G. Ramachandran, as Chief Minister, undertook a five-week-long trip to the US, Japan and Singapore for attracting investments to Tamil Nadu.
In January 1999, M. Karunanidhi made a three-day trip to Singapore and interacted with representatives of the business community. In July 1970, he went to Europe on a three-week-long visit for a similar purpose.
As per the present plan, Mr. Palaniswami will leave for London on August 28 and return to Chennai on September 7.
In the U.S., he will go to New York and California to hold interactions with representatives of business and industry. There will also be separate meetings with potential investors who hail from Tamil Nadu. In January last, the State government held the second edition of the Global Investors’ Meet.
The Chief Minister will be accompanied by Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar in the U.K. leg of the trip, while the Ministers for Industry, Information Technology and Dairy Development — M.C. Sampath, R.B. Udhayakumar and K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji — will accompany Mr. Palaniswami in the U.S. Besides, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam, Secretaries to CM and secretaries of the departments concerned will be part of the contingent.
Expressing confidence that the visit would yield benefits for the State, senior government officials handling the visit point out that a high-profile trip is bound to generate greater visibility for the State, apart from those at the helm of affairs getting first-hand knowledge of the state of affairs of various sectors in a country like the U.S.
On the one-to-one relationship between such a visit and the fructification of projects, K. Venkatesan, former State Finance Secretary, who accompanied MGR to the U.S. in 1978, says it is not easy to establish that, and this holds good for any such visit. However, every government will, and has to, make efforts to attract foreign investment, even though it is well-known that investors consider a number of factors before taking their decisions.
K. R. Shanmugam, Director and Professor, Madras School of Economics, says that the move of the government is ‘essential’, given the prevailing “low investor sentiment” in the country.
Referring to a number of visits undertaken by former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu to many countries, Dr. Shanmugam says the impact of such visits is not known.
To a question whether the visit to the U.K. would be purposeful, given the impact of Brexit, a senior official in the Tamil Nadu governmentsays the situation provides an ‘opportunity’ which should be made use of.
MGR was the last T.N. CM to go to the West to woo investors
14/08/2019, T. RAMAKRISHNAN,CHENNAI
When Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami leaves later this month for a 10-day visit to the United Kingdom and the United States to attract industrial investments, he will be the first Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to go to the West in 40 years.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs formally gave its clearance for the CM’s visit. Now, the file will make its way to the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval from PM Narendra Modi.
Between late October and early December in 1978, M.G. Ramachandran, as Chief Minister, undertook a five-week-long trip to the US, Japan and Singapore for attracting investments to Tamil Nadu.
In January 1999, M. Karunanidhi made a three-day trip to Singapore and interacted with representatives of the business community. In July 1970, he went to Europe on a three-week-long visit for a similar purpose.
As per the present plan, Mr. Palaniswami will leave for London on August 28 and return to Chennai on September 7.
In the U.S., he will go to New York and California to hold interactions with representatives of business and industry. There will also be separate meetings with potential investors who hail from Tamil Nadu. In January last, the State government held the second edition of the Global Investors’ Meet.
The Chief Minister will be accompanied by Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar in the U.K. leg of the trip, while the Ministers for Industry, Information Technology and Dairy Development — M.C. Sampath, R.B. Udhayakumar and K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji — will accompany Mr. Palaniswami in the U.S. Besides, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam, Secretaries to CM and secretaries of the departments concerned will be part of the contingent.
Expressing confidence that the visit would yield benefits for the State, senior government officials handling the visit point out that a high-profile trip is bound to generate greater visibility for the State, apart from those at the helm of affairs getting first-hand knowledge of the state of affairs of various sectors in a country like the U.S.
On the one-to-one relationship between such a visit and the fructification of projects, K. Venkatesan, former State Finance Secretary, who accompanied MGR to the U.S. in 1978, says it is not easy to establish that, and this holds good for any such visit. However, every government will, and has to, make efforts to attract foreign investment, even though it is well-known that investors consider a number of factors before taking their decisions.
K. R. Shanmugam, Director and Professor, Madras School of Economics, says that the move of the government is ‘essential’, given the prevailing “low investor sentiment” in the country.
Referring to a number of visits undertaken by former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu to many countries, Dr. Shanmugam says the impact of such visits is not known.
To a question whether the visit to the U.K. would be purposeful, given the impact of Brexit, a senior official in the Tamil Nadu governmentsays the situation provides an ‘opportunity’ which should be made use of.
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