CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin is expected to travel to the United Kingdom and Germany by the end of this month or the first week of September, during which meetings related to attracting more investments to the state are planned, in addition to meetings with the diaspora and other commitments, highly placed sources said.
During the trip, the chief minister is also expected to deliver a lecture at the King’s College London (KCL), sources said, adding that the details are yet to be finalised. It is to be noted that renowned academic Christophe Jaffrelot, who is the Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute in KCL, has written extensively on Indian politics, including the Dravidian parties, besides guiding research scholars in these areas of study.
When contacted by TNIE, officials said the engagements of the CM during the trip cannot be confirmed at the moment since the programmes are still being finalised. They said that the trip is likely to last for a week or 10 days. This would be the fifth foreign visit of CM Stalin. With the elections just eight months away, this is likely to be his last foreign visit in the present government.
In March 2022, he visited the United Arab Emirates and MoUs with investment commitments to the tune of Rs 6,100 crore, which would produce employment opportunities for over 15,000 people, were signed. In May 2023, the CM visited Singapore and Japan, during which MoUs for investments worth Rs 1,342 crore, expected to produce job opportunities for over 2,000 people, were signed.
In early 2024, he visited Spain, where the government said MoUs were signed for investments worth Rs 3,440 crore. His last visit was to the US in August-September 2024, during which he met with executives of tech giants like Google and Apple. MoUs were signed with investment commitments to the tune of Rs 7,616 crore, which would give employment opportunities for 11,516 people, the government had said.
The CM had earlier said that his foreign visits were aimed at bringing more investments to the state towards the objective of making TN a trillion dollar economy by 2030.