Chennai, Aug 11 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will embark on an official visit to the UK and Germany later this month or in the first week of September, with a focus on attracting fresh investments to the state.
According to highly placed sources, the itinerary will include meetings with potential investors, interactions with the Tamil diaspora, and other official engagements.
During his upcoming visit, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is expected to deliver a lecture at King’s College London (KCL), although the final schedule is yet to be confirmed. KCL is home to noted scholar Christophe Jaffrelot, the Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute. Jaffrelot is widely recognised for his extensive research on Indian politics, including in-depth studies on Dravidian parties.
The Avantha Chair at the King’s India Institute is a distinguished academic position created through a £3.5 million endowment from the Avantha Group. The role is jointly held by Professors Niraja Gopal Jayal and Christophe Jaffrelot, and forms a core element of the Institute’s mission to serve as a leading global hub for the study of contemporary India
Senior officials said that the Chief Minister’s engagements abroad cannot be confirmed at present as the schedule is still being drawn up. The visit is expected to last between seven and ten days. This will be CM Stalin’s fifth foreign tour since assuming office, and with Assembly elections just eight months away, it is likely to be his last overseas trip in the current term.
Since taking charge, CM Stalin has made high-profile foreign visits aimed at bolstering Tamil Nadu’s investment prospects. In March 2022, he toured the UAE, resulting in MoUs worth Rs 6,100 crore. His May 2023 visits to Singapore and Japan yielded investment commitments of Rs 1,342 crore, creating around 2,000 jobs. In early 2024, the CM travelled to Spain, where MoUs amounting to Rs 3,440 crore were signed.
His most recent trip was to the US in August-September 2024, during which he met executives from technology giants, including Google and Apple. That visit saw MoUs worth Rs 7,616 crore inked, with the potential to create 11,516 jobs, according to the state government.
CM Stalin has repeatedly emphasised that his overseas engagements are part of the broader goal of transforming Tamil Nadu into a $1 trillion economy by 2030. The upcoming trip to Europe is expected to continue this investment push, while also strengthening the state’s global connections and showcasing its economic potential to leading business and academic circles.
–IANS
aal/dpb