September 21, 2018
Germany bets big on investing in Bangla
German Development Bank KfW and GIZ, a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, have evinced keen interest to invest in Bangla. State chief secretary and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation met top officials of these two German firms on September 19.
State Finance, Commerce and Industries minister Dr Amit Mitra said that the State Government has discussed investment potential on five projects. Focusing mostly in the sectors of urban mobility, these are on electric ferry, electric buses, electric trolley bus and two projects on waste management, including e-waste.
“We do not have electric ferry but it is very popular in Germany. KFW can do part-financing for that,” Dr Mitra added.
Dr Mitra, who went to Dusseldorf, the capital of German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that a big delegation headed by minister of finance of that state will participate in the next edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit. “We have submitted a proposal for state-to-state cooperation,” he added.
The areas of cooperation will include mining equipment, chemicals and petrochemicals, logistics and engineering. “We have given three handbooks on chemical and petrochemicals, logistics, engineering and manufacturing. They have proposed a handbook on mining for investment in the state,” Dr Mitra said.
North Rhine-Westphalia contributes almost 22% of the GDP of Germany.
The Finance Minister also sounded optimistic that there will be good sectoral delegation from this German state. “We may also sign an MOU with North Rhine-Westphalia for long-term cooperation like what we did with a state in Poland,” he added.
According to him, top German companies which have a presence in Bangla are very happy working here. These include BASF, Siemens, Phoenix, Metro Cash & Carry and Walker Silicon, among others.
