Global leaders invited for ‘Keraleeyam’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government is set to host a prestigious event called “Keraleeyam” as part of the state’s 67th formation day celebrations in November. This week-long event will feature eminent personalities from around the world as speakers in various seminars. Sources have revealed that invitations have been extended to several distinguished figures, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, to address the Information Technology session. Anant Maheswari, Chairperson of NASSCOM, Tamil Nadu Minister for IT Palanivel Thiagarajan, and Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal have also received invitations.

The final list of speakers will be released once their participation is confirmed, with over half of the invitees already confirming their attendance, sources said. For the agriculture session, the tentative list of participants includes ICAR Director General Himanshu Pathak, APEDA Director Tarun Bajaj, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences Secretary K C Bansal, and World Bank’s Senior Economist Chris Jackson.

Richard W Franke, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Montclair State University, known for his extensive work on Kerala’s decentralisation, will address a session on Kerala’s cooperatives. Other planned speakers are NABARD Chairman K V Shaji and ILO’s Cooperatives Unit Head Simel Esim. International Cooperative Alliance Director General Ariel Guarco has also been invited. A special session focused on the Covid pandemic will be chaired by former Health Minister K K Shailaja.

The speakers for this session include Gagandeep Kang, Professor at CMC Vellore, former Kerala State Planning Board member B Ekbal, WHO’s former Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, and Harvard University Senior Lecturer Richard A Cash.

Additionally, sessions covering Kerala’s economy will feature Robin Jeffrey, Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies and an expert on Kerala’s society and politics, along with Govindan Parayil, Professor at the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp