With just a few weeks to go for the city to host the biggest international event in the country post-independence, the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said the central government washed its hands from lending support to the meet. “Whatever we have spent so far is our own money,” he said while interacting with 300 odd student volunteers getting trained for the United Nation’s Conference of Parties 11- Convention on Biological Diversity at the National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management in the city on Monday.
Happy with the preparations being done by the volunteers, he announced that the state government will issue a certificate signed by the CM himself after the conference was over. “Success and failure of the conference depend on you. Even a small mistake on your part would reflect on the conference’s success,” he said adding that, “a good smile on all your faces is what I want to see.”
About 331 student volunteers underwent a 21-day training for hospitality management for the CoP-11 meet --Earn while you learn- sensitising youth to tourism conducted by IITHM. City colleges like the NITHM, St. Mary’s Yusufguda, St Ann’s Mehdipatnam, Engineering Staff College of India, Pioneer Institute of Hotel Management, Kuoni Academy Hyderabad.
Tourism secretary Chandana Khan informed the chief minister that the students were being imparted knowledge in Indian culture, heritage, soft skills, personality development and foreign languages and also courtesy and behavioural aspects. Responding to which, the chief minister said, “The delegates are going to do their homework before arriving. So you should be more informed than them. Even after the conference, I expect the delegates to come back. The word they spread and message they give needs to bring us more visitors”.
Further, he informed that three more Tourism institutes are getting ready across the state at Tirupathi, Nellore and Medak. “We can have more exposure through such events and can be the next destination for such conferences in the country,” he said informing that the state would be hosting another three international conferences over the next year.