Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 10 (IANS): Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is on trip to US, invited top multinational pharma major Pfizer to open a research centre in Kerala, according to the information provided by CM's office (CMO) on Saturday

The high level meeting took place in New York.

Now, all eyes are on whether Pfizer can pull it off, whereas Johns Hopkins University failed to make it more than two decades back.

The talks centred around whether Pfizer can open a centre in Kerala by branching out from their existing research centre in Chennai. A Pfizer team will land in Kerala in the course of the present calendar year.

The Pfizer officials were keen to know about the advancement that the state had made in biotechnology, bio-informatics, applied mathematics and allied areas as these would be crucial areas, if Pfizer decides to set the centre in Kerala.

The high level delegation of Vijayan consisted of Chief Secretary V.P. Joy who made a presentation of the state.

With now Vijayan eagerly waiting for the arrival of the Pfizer team to Kerala, it must be recalled that a Kerala government move to allow Johns Hopkins University to establish a Rs 700-crore institute to promote multi-disciplinary studies, research and training in public health, which was floated by the then Chief Minister A.K. Antony more than two decades back, ended up in the dustbin after the CPI-M initially supported it and then changed its position.

But now with Vijayan in charge and with a totally different attitude, if Pfizer says yes, then it could be given a hero's welcome in Communist Kerala.