Tamil Nadu: Stalin Explains Why He Goes Abroad To Lure Investors

Chennai: Enunciating on the importance of going abroad and meeting business leaders personally to bring industrial investments to the State, Chief Minister M K Stalin said that a head of a State meeting his counterparts in other nations would take the relationship beyond business and help develop lasting bonds and the direct engagements would lead to partnerships.

Addressing media persons at the Chennai airport on Monday on his return from a week-long tour to Germany and United Kingdom that saw the signing of 33 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to bring in investments worthRs 15,516 crore to the State and generate 17,613 jobs, he said his visit was a massive success.

While ten new companies, placing their trust in Tamil Nadu, had come forward to start industries here and six institutions in higher education and small-scale industry sectors were joining hands with Tamil Nadu for collaborative efforts, 17 existing companies had decided not to shift to other states but expand their operations within the State itself, he said.

His meetings with NRW Minister-President Hendrik Wüst in Germany and United Kingdom Minister Catherine West during the trip reinforced the view that direct engagements strengthened lasting bonds, he said, adding that both Wust and West, too, shared the same view, he said.

The latest sojourn was a culmination of all his foreign visits over the past four and a half years as the trip alone had attracted the highest volume of investments compared to any of his earlier foreign tours, he said.

Apart from the investments that were attracted during the tour, there are other memorable moments of pride, he said, referring to the unveiling of a portrait of Periyar E V Ramasamy at the 1000-year-old, world-renowned Oxford University and his address at the conference on Self-Respect Movement’s centenary, where he spoke in detail about the path travelled and the goals to achieve.

Since he also addressed gatherings of the Tamil diaspora, interacted with students of SOAS University about the Dravidian Model, and visited places of great significance such as the memorial of philosopher Karl Marx, the residence of legal luminary B.R. Ambedkar, the statue of Thiruvalluvar and the memorial of Tamil scholar G U Pope, the visit was personally unforgettable, he said.

Those who could not digest the success of the trip were sarcastically asking, "Why go abroad for this? Isn't it enough to meet companies here?", he said and explained the importance of such direct meetings with investors and why such were essential.

At the Investors' Meet in Germany, when he highlighted the importance of investing in Tamil Nadu, many investors said, "Only now do we realize the immense potential of Tamil Nadu. Until now, it was another state that proudly projected its potential. From now on, surely more investors will turn towards Tamil Nadu," he recalled.

Clarifying another doubt raised by the naysayers, Stalin said even if companies were operating in Tamil Nadu it did not mean that automatically they would launch their new projects here itself. It was only when he personally met and persuaded the top executives, they committed to bringing fresh investments into Tamil Nadu, he said.

Above all, it was important that he, as Chief Minister, personally explained to investors Tamil Nadu's strengths that included its skilled workforce, infrastructure, transparent governance, and policy incentives, he said.

Beyond the agreements already signed, the meetings in Germany and UK had assured more investments for Tamil Nadu, he said and gave an example of his visit to Hosur on September 11 to inaugurate the automated lane facility and workers' hostel at the Rs 2,000 crore worth Delta Electronics plan and laying the foundation for new factories worth Rs.1,100 crore.

During that occasion, as it was done in Thoothukudi, an investors' meet would be held in Hosur, where several thousands of crores of investments were expected, he said. Apart from the foreign trips to attract industrial investments, the domestic tours across Tamil Nadu would continue forever, he said.

Asked about the Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami alleging that the Chief Minister’s foreign visit was more to make investments, he said he was right in a twisted way because during the trip he had invested in self-respect principles and keeping alive the ideals of Periyar abroad.