New York: The zonal meet of the much awaited Loka Kerala Sabha has kick-started in New York. Registration of delegates and a friendly gathering was held on the first day of the programme.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the general assembly of the Loka Kerala Sabha, which will be held in the New York Times Square, on Saturday.

The registration of 250 delegates from different countries who are attending the conference began here on Friday afternoon.

Norka Roots vice chairman P Sriramakrishnan inaugurated the friendly gathering of the conference at 6 pm on Friday. Chief secretary VP Joy, Special officer Venu Rajamani and others addressed the gathering. Cultural programmes were also staged as part of the friendly gathering.

Apart from the chief minister, speaker AN Shamseer, diamond sponsor and Fokana president Dr Babu Stephen, Norka Roots director and chief coordinator of the Regional Conference Dr M Anirudhan will address the 'Pravasi Sangamam' or the general assembly on the June 11 from 6 to 7.30 pm US time.

The organisers are planning to live stream the chief minister’s speech through a special YouTube channel. The chairman of the organising committee, K G Manmadhan Nair, told Manorama that all the preparations for the event were complete and that they were hopeful of the smoke pollution easing before the public meeting in New York.