• September 13, 2022

Kerala CM and ministers to visit UK, Norway, Finland to raise investments and study field of education

By A Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Sept 13: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Education Minister V Sivankutty and a team of officials will leave for a two-week-long trip to Europe in early October this year as per reports from Kerala. However, there has been no official confirmation regarding this from the Chief Minister’s Office.

Education Minister V Sivankutty is visiting Finland at the invitation of the government of Finland to study in the field of education. Apart from the Chief Minister, Education Minister V Sivankutty and top officials of the Education Department will also be present during the visit.

Finance Minister K N Balagopal and Industries Minister P Rajeev are likely to be part of the visit. The aim of this trip will be to attract investments, say reports. The state government has approached the central ministries seeking permission for the same.

This is a two-week journey from October 1 to October 14, 2022. The explanation is that Finland has invited cooperation in the field of education. The delegations is also likely to visit the Nokia factory in Finland.

The outline of the trip will be ready within three days. The educational model in Finland will be studied. It will be checked whether it can be copied in Kerala.

Kerala Tourism Minister Muhammed Riyas will travel abroad before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Education Minister V Sivankutty and a team of officials leave for Europe. Riyaz and his team are going to Paris to participate in the tourism fair. He will participate in the French travel market on September 19.

The ministers’ visit comes at a time when the finance minister has repeatedly said that the state’s finances are bad. But now the finance minister is justifying the trip.

Finance Minister K N Balagopal has justified the chief minister and ministers’ decision to go to Europe at a time when Kerala is facing a severe financial crisis.

Balagopal said: “It’s good to go abroad. It is essential to travel to know the world. Kerala is not so poor. The chief minister’s journey will not affect the total expenditure. Kerala is a state with an internal income of Rs 10 lakh crore.

“Rs 2 crore has been set aside in the budget to take farmers abroad to study farming. There were reports that more Benz cars were purchased in Kerala than Oman. It is not these things that need to be discussed, but the share of taxes to be received from the Centre. Kerala will not go into overdraft. The situation is under control,” the finance minister said.