NEWDELHI: In a bid to give an image makeover to the state traditionally known for its “unfriendly investment climate”, the Kerala Government on Friday kicked off campaign “Emerging Kerala”, by sending out a call to the investors across the globe to become partners in turning it into an investment hotspot.“Kerala is ready for investment.We want to send out a message to the world that investment is welcome,” said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy while addressing senior diplomats, heads of multilateral agencies and chiefs of trade missions here.He invited them to attend the Emerging Kerala global investor connect meet in Kochi from September 12 to 14.“Emerging Kerala will be a platform for eminent personalities and business leaders to converge and deliberate on subjects of economic growth and development of the state,” Chandy said.The Chief Minister, flanked by senior Cabinet ministers, urged the heads of foreign missions to take the message to their countries and facilitate the flow of investment.“Our government has a clear development agenda which is tailormade to attract investments. The long term economic growth and progress of the state is the number one objective of Emerging Kerala initiative,” he said.The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is the nodal agency for the Emerging Kerala campaign while CII and NASSCOM are the partners.The meeting was attended by representatives from the US, the UK, France, Canada, Germany, Russian Federation, Belgium, China, Taiwan, Denmark, Czech Republic, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Representatives from agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, Japan External Trade Organisation, Indo- Canadian Business Chamber, US-India Business Council, UN Women, and UNESCO also attended the meet.“We are expecting huge investment commitments during the Emerging Kerala meet,” Chandy told reporters.The Chief Minister said his government had also identified core sectors for sustainable development of the state.These included tourism, IT and IT-enabled services, healthcare, food and agroprocessing, ports, ship building and logistics, energy, bio-technology, light engineering and automotive industries.The government is also giving priority to development infrastructure, including roads, high-speed train, urban infrastructure and industrial parks and corridors.“Most of the projects will be developed on the publicprivate partnership mode, providing huge business opportunities to both overseas and domestic investors,” Chandy added.
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