US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in Chennai. During the meeting, Clinton told the Jayalalithaa the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation had many investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu and the US would look forward to many large investments in Tamil Nadu.
At the meeting, which went on for an hour, Jayalalithaa emphasised that the automobile sector, information technology, education, power, infrastructure projects and other industry offer huge potential for US companies in the state.
According to a state government release, Jayalalithaa expressed her concern over the decline in H1B visa issuances, even though in terms of the number of visas issued, the Chennai US Consulate is the second-largest in the world.
Since the current quota for H1B visas is very low at 65,000 and the number of applications far exceeds the quota, there is a very high rejection rate. Jayalalithaa requested Clinton the US Secretary of State to increase the quota of H1B visas to the original number of 195,000.
During the discussion on issues concerning Sri Lankan Tamils, the Tamil Nadu chief minister said even though the war in Sri Lanka was over two years ago, the Sri Lankan Tamils in the Jaffna region were still in camps and were unable to return to their native places.
“The US secretary of state shared the concern of the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and said the US government was looking at some innovative and creative ideas in breaking this impasse and enabling the Sri Lankan Tamils in camps to get back to their own homes,” the release said.
Clinton also expressed her desire for a state-to-state programme between Tamil Nadu and US states for various industrial and economic programmes. She invited the chief minister to the US which and said such a visit would enable the Americans to know about the achievements of Tamil Nadu.
