Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Minister for Industries and Law, P Rajeev, on Tuesday criticised the Centre for denying permission to two state government officials to visit the UAE for preparing the Kerala Pavilion at the World Expo.
In a Facebook post, the minister protested the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) decision to deny the permit to Principal Secretary (Industries and NORKA) Dr K Elangovan and Director of Industries and Commerce, S Harikishore between November 10 to 12. He said the MEA has refused to furnish a reason.
“The state government wishes to make the participation a success and to evaluate the preparedness it had decided to send two higher officials,” said the minister.
The union ministry has said that if needed they can go in the first week of December, the minister noted. The Kerala Pavillion is expected to go live at the World Expo between December 24 and January 6. The Expo, which began on October 1 will end on March 31, 2022.
According to Rajeev, the Expo where the Indian pavillions are facilitated by the MEA and the Minister of Commerce and Industry was an opportunity for Kerala to promote its tourism and industry before the international community.
Rajeev said that on the one hand, the Centre has urged the states to make good use of the opportunity while it was also ruining the efforts done in that regard.
At least 192 countries and as many as ten organisations are participating in the Expo.
