CM M K Stalin Leaves on 18-Day Tour of US

Chennai:Chief Minister M K Stalin left on an 18-day official tour of the United States of America to meet potential investors and head honchos of a slew of Fortune 500 companies in San Francisco and Chicago cities with a view to enriching the industrial scene in the State through fresh investments and generating more employment for the benefit of future generations of Tamils.

Speaking to the media at the airport, where he was seen off by his ministerial colleagues, MPs, MLAs, party leaders, functionaries and cadre who had come in large numbers, Stalin said that he had received information that there was a heavy rush of investors evincing interest in meeting him in the US with a view to starting new ventures in the State.

So, he was not sure if he would be able stick to the schedule and return home on September 14, he said. However, on his return he would give details of whom he met and who all had agreed to make investments, he said.

Earlier in the day, he visited the memorials of former Chief Ministers C N Annadurai and M Karunanidhi and also met several dignitaries, including TVS group chairman Venu Srinivasan and his wife, TAFE chairperson, Mallika Srinivasan, who had called on him during the day to greet him.

The Tamil Chamber of Commerce (TCC) president Chozhan Nachiar Rajasekar wished the Chief Minister all success in attracting investments, which would enhance the economic trade and industrial growth of the State, leading to enhanced employment opportunities, inclusive growth and social justice.

Before boarding the 10 pm Emirates flight to Dubai, from where he would leave for San Francisco to address an investors' meet on August 29, Stalin, in his epistle to party cadre, said his trip was part of the government’s initiative to turn Tamil Nadu into a ‘US $ One Trillion’ economy, which could be achieved only by pursuing investors in the present day competitive global economic scenario.

Besides inviting investors to come to Tamil Nadu, Stalin said he would also meet the Tamil communities in the US, particularly the Tamil people in Chicago on September 7, which would be a reminiscence of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s address at the Chicago University in 1971.

The same way in which Tamils living in Chicago and the neighboring States had then listened to the address delivered at the political hall of the university then, the Tamil community would congregate to meet Stalin 43 years later, he said.

While he would be monitoring the activities of the government and the DMK party from the US, he said he was confident that the Ministers and officials would ensure that the benefits of the Dravidian Model government’s social welfare schemes reached the people they were meant for without any disruption.

Similarly, all the party work would be taken care of by the DMK leaders and functionaries at various levels, including district secretaries, and the preparations for the party’s Mupperum Vizha (Three Great Celebrations) in the 75th year on September 17.

Stalin said that was compelled to undertake the initiatives to bring more investments into the State because industrial development had stagnated during the previous government and needed to be revived by attracting investments, building infrastructure, increasing job opportunities and improving the economic development of the State.

Listing out the various efforts of his government in inviting industrial and business investments into the State, he recalled his visits to the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan and Spain in the past three years when several prestigious memoranda of understandings (MoUs) were signed for started industries, and the conduct of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) in January drew several multinational companies to Chennai.

Stalin said the State had attracted investments to the tune of Rs 10 lakh crore in the last three years and his government had ensured that the MoUs were implemented and industries were started to provide employment to the people.

At the investors’ meet at Chennai on August 21 alone the foundation was laid for the launch of 28 projects totalling Rs 51,157 crore and generating 1,06,803 jobs and 19 completed schemes worth Rs 17,616 crore were inaugurated, he said.

Multinational electric car maker VinFast had already laid the foundation for its factory in Thoothukudi in his presence and had expedited the work on it, he said, adding that in the last three years 31 lakh jobs, both direct and indirect, had been created across the State at the initiative of the DMK government.

State Industries Minister T R B Rajaa had already reached the US to coordinate his programmes and make necessary arrangements, said Stalin, who was accompanied by wife Durga Stalin and a slew of officers and assistants in the journey.