Vijayan meets envoys, seeks to strengthen ties

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday held meetings with the consul general of Japan in Chennai, Taga Masayuki, and the Netherlands ambassador to India, Marten van den Berg, and discussed the necessity to strengthen the cooperation between those countries and Kerala in various fields.

Berg called on Vijayan at his office here and assured support to the state’s venture to develop centres of excellence in higher education sector.

In a separate meeting with Vijayan, Masayuki and the Japanese delegation discussed the collaboration of Japan’s Osaka University with various universities in Kerala, the chief minister’s office said in a release.

“The higher education sector of Kerala is on the path of revamp. We need good cooperation with the technological universities of the Netherlands,” Vijayan said.

Japan’s Osaka University will collaborate with various universities in Kerala and an understanding has been reached for further steps to be taken in this connection, CM’s office said here.

Vijayan welcomed Dutch tourists to Kerala and remembered how the idea of “room for river” from the Netherlands had helped the state government handle the flood situation in Kuttanad region of Alappuzha district.

The CMO said the Netherlands has assured cooperation in various fields including agriculture, water resources, technical education and weather-related studies.

The chief minister, during the meeting with the Japanese delegation, pointed to the need to further strengthen the cooperation between Japan and Kerala in the fields of higher education, tourism and Ayurveda.

“Collaborations in the areas of waste management, fish processing and agro industries, were also welcomed,” he said.

There are several Keralite nurses working in the health sector in Japan and they would benefit from the training in the Japanese language, Vijayan said, adding that the southern state was expecting to maintain warm relationships with Japan in future also. Chief secretary V P Joy, chief principal secretary to CM K M Abraham, state government’s officer on special duty in Delhi Venu Rajamani were present during both the meetings, the CMO statement added.