Pinarayi's 10-day trip to US, Cuba gets Centre's nod

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will visit the USA and Cuba during his 10-day foreign trip from June 8 to 18. The external affairs ministry granted the approval for the trip on Tuesday. Chief Minister's Office has confirmed that he will leave for his foreign trip on June 6. 

Speaker A N Shamseer, finance minister K N Balagopal, Planning Board vice-chairman V K Ramachandran, chief secretary V P Joy, principal secretary to chief minister K M Abraham and various IAS officials will also accompany Pinarayi on the trip to the US.

During his US tour, he will participate in the expatriate meet of Loka Kerala Sabha in New York. The CM will hold talks with World Bank officials on June 12. NoRKA (Non-Resident Keralaites Affairs) vice chairman P Sreeramakrishnan and a team of officials are also expected to attend the conference of Loka Kerala Sabha.

Health minister Veena George, Planning Board vice chairman, chief secretary and CM's principal secretary, health department secretary will accompany him to Cuba. The Kerala government aims to seek Cuba's cooperation in health sector. 

Earlier, the Centre had denied permission for CM's UAE tour which was scheduled from May 7 to 11. Rejecting permission, the centre contended that the programme is not so important to be attended by the Kerala Chief Minister.