Come to Bengal, invest in Bengal: Dr Amit Mitra to representatives of 31 countries

Kolkata, Sep 21: Come to Bengal, invest in Bengal – this was the gist of the message given by West Bengal Finance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra to top representatives from 31 advanced nations, including 15 ambassadors, recently. The message he carried from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was one of golden opportunities for people wanting to invest in Bengal to set up facilities in any category of industry. Bengal is already a leader in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, and is gradually drawing bigger investors. This conference was in preparation for the fourth Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), scheduled for January 16-17, 2018. Over the years, the BGBS summits, a brainchild of Mamata Banerjee for attracting investment in Bengal, after the 34-year industrial drought during the Left Front era, have been a huge hit, with memoranda of understanding (MoU) worth hundreds of crores of rupees signed every year. Towards that aim, the State Government is also going to organise a road show in Delhi soon. At the 2017 BGBS, representatives from 29 countries in Europe, USA and Asia attended. The 2018 summit is going to be jointly organised by the West Bengal government and the industry body, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Dr Mitra has offered a bouquet of opportunities for anyone wanting to set up, singly or jointly, industrial facilities in any sector. Among the ambassadors were those from Singapore, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Hungary, Israel, Bulgaria, Bhutan and Norway, and among the other countries senior representatives were those from Australia and Thailand. All of them became very interested after learning of the multiple opportunities being offered by the State Government, and showed a keen interest in investing in the state. UNI