Vijayan expresses disappointment over Kerala Min denied permission by Centre to attend UN Meet in China

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denied permission to Kerala's Tourism and Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran to visit China.

Expressing disappointment Vijayan said, "I would like to bring to your kind attention our concern and disappointment at the denial of opportunity for promoting State tourism in an international forum. On an invitation from the Secretary General, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), to attend the 22" session of the General Assembly of UNWTO, scheduled to be held in Chengdu, China from 11 to 16 September 2017, Shri Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Kerala, applied online for political clearance for the visit. He has since received information that the clearance has been denied".

The letter further read, "The objective behind undertaking the visit was to learn from international experience about developing the tourism sector in Kerala. The theme of the session 'Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals - the journey to 2030' was relevant and of significance since Kerala has been taking several initiatives in the area of responsible tourism, and participation would have given an opportunity to present the State's achievements before an international audience, besides obtaining insights from experiences of other countries. It is unfortunate that a State delegation headed by the Minister for Tourism has been denied the opportunity to participate in an international forum. I request that the decision may be reconsidered".

Surendran, was scheduled to attend a meeting at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at Chengdu in China which was to be held from September 11 to September 16.

The request from minister's office to grant him permission to attend UNWTO was rejected by the Ministry.

Earlier in the day, Surendran was reportedly denied permission by the MEA.

Following that, the MEA has not given any reason for shooting down the Minister's request.

Meanwhile, Surendran has expressed displeasure at the unexpected development.

Surendran was among the four delegates from India who were directly invited by UNWTO.