July 24, 2015
WB CM to promote Bengal as an investment destination in UK
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wants to improve the image of Bengal globally and market the rich human resource of the state during her trip to UK.
Mamata Banerjee had an informal meeting with the members of the delegation, who will accompany her to UK, at Nabanna on Thursday . The Chief Minister made it clear that she does not have any special expectation from the trip and argued that unless the state’s image gets an uplift nothing can be done.
“No one has done anything for the image of our state. It was negative when I started, even if we can achieve 30% that will be a good achievement,” Mamata Banerjee said, adding that she would try to market Bengal as the human resource capital of India.
“Even globally, so many Bengalis are working. We should showcase this,” she added.
23 MoUs to be signed
Most of the 23 MoUs to be signed in the UK will be related to train human resources in the fields of health and education. Besides, there will be special emphasis on transport and other infrastructure.
Mamata Ba nerjee pointed out that work has already started on some of the MoUs signed in Singapore and during the Bengal Global Business Summit in January this year.
The delegation
The CM will be accompanied by 50 industrialists from Kolkata and other cities. Some top industrialists of the country have also confirmed their participation.
Chairman of Apollo Tyres Onkar Kanwar, director of Apollo Hospitals Sangita Reddy , Videocon Group director Anirudh Dhoot and Matix chairman Nishant Kanodia have recently confirmed their participation. Earlier, the Lalit Group chairman J Suri, GEECL chairman Y K Modi and Adi Godrej had confirmed participation.
Y C Deveshwar, chairman of ITC, said: “I am confidant that there will be a positive impact. The radical reforms undertaken in the field of ease-of-doing business should be showcased in UK.”
Besides the ITC chairman, others present at Thursday’s meeting were CII president Sumit Mazumdar, Assocham vice president Sunil Kanoria, Tata Metaliks MD Sanjiv Paul, Apeejay Group chairman Karan Paul, Keventer MD Mayank Jalan, Patton MD Sanjay Budhia, Luxmi Tea CEO Rudra Chatterjee, BAPL director Utsav Parekh and others.
During the four-day trip, Mamata will have a few closed-door meetings along and visit the Buckingham Palace and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). She will meet UK minister of employment Priti Patel at FCO.
