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C K Menon and Doha resident Girish Kumar with Kerala CM Oommen Chandy at the concluding session of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas celebrations in Jaipur on Monday |
The Kerala government is hosting the summit in September aimed at attracting investors from across the world, especially those from the GCC.
“The government should also invite ministerial-level delegations from the GCC states,” C K Menon, CEO of Doha-based Behzad Group of Companies said in a statement.
The delegation of GCC-based businessmen from India, headed by Menon met the Kerala chief minister on the last day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, a conference of non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin, held in Jaipur in Rajasthan.
The businessmen highlighted the need to attract business houses from GCC states in view of their growing support to Kerala’s economic development.
“While hailing the contributions of the Keralites in GCC states, Chandy specifically recalled that Keralites abroad remitted around $10bn last year, which he said, was 22% of Kerala’s gross domestic product,” Menon said.
According to a World Bank report, the total remittance flow to India was around $58bn in 2011, which was around 4.2 % of the country’s GDP.
Delegates from the region also urged the chief minister to explore the possibility of holding meetings with Keralites in GCC states on the lines of his mass contact programmes.
