The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Singapore upbeat about prospects in Kerala

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Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Singapore upbeat about prospects in Kerala

Staff reporter

Photo: Vipin Chandran

BUSINESS VISIT: Singapore Senior Minister Balaji Sadasivan (right) with Ajith Singh, Consul-General of Singapore in Chennai, in Kochi on Monday.

KOCHI: Kerala is being projected in a bad light despite making definite progress towards bettering its image of a State affected by labour unrest, Predeep K. Menon, executive director and chief executive officer of Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), has said.

He was talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a meeting that a Singapore delegation led by Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, had with officials of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) here on Monday.

Mr. Menon said that many other States in the country were enjoying the reputation of being pro-business and economically aggressive compared to Kerala.

“Kerala has made much progress in various areas and has taken a lot of positive steps to take care of the labour issues. I don’t think it (labour problem) is as problematic as it used to be in the past. But this progress is not conveyed to the outside world as it is not publicised or marketed well. So the perception the outside world still has is a very outdated one,” he said.

Mr. Menon also find fault with the media for painting Kerala in a bad light, thus failing to give a balanced view of affairs in the State. “Whatever progress (being) made is forgotten and any small problem is magnified. And the international world picks up this magnified problem,” he felt.

Visits by delegations and presentations given during the period give a more balanced view of how Kerala is doing, he said.

“Of course, Kerala still has some hurdles to overcome. But I think it is in the right direction.

“SICCI is extending an invitation to the leaders and business delegates from the State to visit Singapore. They could interact with a bigger business community and project their policies and programmes so that Kerala gets a far better perception in the outside world,” he said.

A much bigger delegation from Singapore with a full-fledged Kerala Mission would visit the State to carry forward the investment prospects in the State.

“This visit was an exploratory mission and a precursor to a much bigger delegation that will be coming down the road with a full-fledged Kerala Mission,” Mr. Menon, who was part of a 15-member high-level delegation that attended the meeting, said.

That delegation would take forward the talks that had been initiated now and work on the prospects of investing in the State, he hoped.

The delegation was very happy about the investment opportunities presented to them during the meeting with KSIDC officials, Mr. Menon said.

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