KOZHIKODE: Industries Minister Elamaram Karim said on Thursday the various issues related to the industries in the State will be discussed with officials of other departments for effective coordination. A meeting of the task force led by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on September 11 would ensure it.

Interactive meeting

Inaugurating the interactive meeting with industrialists organised by Department of Industries and Commerce and Kozhikode district unit of Kerala State Small Industries Association (KSSIA) at the Taj Residency here, the Minister said the agriculture and traditional industries in the State were destroyed and new industries could not make expected progress. Only the trade sector could register some growth.

Also, in the production sector, expected growth was not achieved. Nearly half of the four lakh SSIs in the State were not functioning. Although Kerala has the highest number of Public Sector Units (PSUs) in the country, they alone cannot usher in growth. Even if the existing SSIs were revived, it could provide employment opportunities. Also, it could be a great help to entrepreneurs.

Workshop

Stressing that food processing was a sector that had great potentials, Mr. Karim said that a workshop would be held in this regard on September 2. Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh would attend a meeting of export-oriented entrepreneurs in Kochi on August 31. He also advised the industrialists to take the technical support from engineering college students and faculty and also the managerial support from institutes like Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) towards improving their businesses.

Quality stressed

Pointing out that only those brands that were of international quality could sell in the market, the Minister observed that the present market was a buyers market.

M.Khalid, KSSIA district president presided, P.H.Kurien, Industries secretary and T.O.Sooraj, director, Industries, were among those who spoke.

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