Thank you so much to my Finance & Industry Minister Amit Mitra, all my important foreign delegates, my friends, brothers and sisters from the abroad, my all of core group chairman, ministers, MPs, MLAs, all national & international chambers, state-district-local chambers, all the captain of industries.

I have to leave today for my favorite Darjeeling because I have some programme day after tomorrow and also we celebrate Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday in Darjeeling, that’s why I have to rush. So I am sorry for this but on behalf of west Bengal people and behalf of India we congratulate all of my delegates all of my friends, family members, colleagues and all.

We are really privileged, we are honoured and delighted. It’s a superb performance and without you it was not possible at all. It is not the credit of west Bengal government or mine, the credit must go to my chambers and all the captain of the industries. They are doing this conference so credit must go to my captain of the industries, chairmen of the groups (Amit Mitra already said the names all the chambers), chambers of commerce, all the government officials, Ministers, MPs, MLAs.

I think I should not say this is successful, your presence is saying that. It is better to see what is the practical thing? In a practical way I can say your presence is proof that this is not only successful, it is super successful. Thank you so much, we just started two years ago. This is the third one and I congratulated Dr Richter who came today morning and he said it is their first time at the global conference in Bengal. I am so happy. We are delighted. Thank you so much for your announcement. It will give a big boost up and my industry people will be happy.

What we feel the success story of the global phenomena that our industry is doing business with the other world countries. They represent India. They represent my state. If their business grow, our business will grow up and I believe that let invite all my friends, may be from China, Japan, Korea, Cuba, Singapore, Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Venezuela, France, UK, USA, Germany Norway, Netherlands everywhere. Please invite our people to go there also. Their performance and your performance it is just like a gate together & work together, this is the formula.

Let us build up this bridge and this bridge is a actual a ‘vision bridge’ that will boost our future. From Kolkata, from Bengal you can develop Bangladesh industry. Nepal industry, Bhutan industry, North-eastern country, even Bengal is very nearer to Thailand, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar, China , Maldives and all. And we have eight North-eastern sister states and also Bihar, Odisha the eastern part of India also.

So if Kolkata or Bengal has to be chosen then you can choose half of the India, more than that. So please invest, come, do the business freely and frankly. We will give you the skill labour, cheap labour, good environment, the work-culture and whatever help we can give. From land bank to land use policy in every matter we will help you. Even to industry friends I will tell you that you can start one sms service of computer what I told earlier, if anybody wants to give the proposal let it be with them. Sanjeev you will take care it, so let them submit their proposal, then through you (Sanjeev) they can send it to Finance Minister. So it can be discussed together also.

Some pilot project must be there, the foundation their people can directly approach to the core committee chairman. In every sector I have core group chairman. You can send your proposal. If it is transport give it to transport chairman, if it is CREDAI give it to CREDAI. If it is food-agriculture give it to that chairman. So I want to activate all these core group chairman. Let them do their job with their credibility and responsibility. Government is just like their partner, they will extend all co-operations to them. I think you follow this.

I am happy to say even I met all the representatives & delegates from all over the world. Yesterday also I met the Chinese delegation, Japanese delegation, Italy delegation, Norway delegation, Venezuela delegation, France delegation and all. I am happy that Norway said that they are really interested for the maritime and the other sector also. Italy said they are interested to do the business with the leather industry & the manufacturing industry.

We are also working with Japanese company Mitsubishi and they are doing the drinking water project in Purulia. Yokohama also has a project in Howrah, please speed it up so it can start the work. Even the Metro work is there, similarly there are so many other projects.

Like this, the Chinese delegation said they are interested in the infrastructural and manufacturing projects. There are many more countries which are interested to do the job.

This is the third year, in the earlier two years we have received proposals of Rs 4,93,000 crores, this is the exact figure. We don’t believe in jumping figures and zero implementation. We believe that commitment is the credential of this global business conference. We believe each and every proposal and even small amounts of money are also very important. We announce what we receive and I do not like the gap between proposals and implementation. My words are simple, I say the simple words. We started newly, we gathered experience over the years and we do better the following year.

Total investment received in the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 is Rs 4,93,000 crores. And you will be happy to know that out of the total, 40% projects are already under implementation. It is not that we say something, it takes some time to finalise the programs, to prepare the DPR, go for tender, to activate the work, and it takes some time. This year also we are receiving major foreign investments. They discuss the matter. They will go back to their country with the plans, talk to the people and then pick their partners and they will do the job. So I don’t want to count every project, let them discuss and decide.

China has already committed to the elevated mass rapid transport project; they have announced 27,200 crores here at the global business summit. I want to congratulate them. There is a MoU between Korea and HIDCO regarding green cities, congratulations. There have been several projects and MoUs that have been discussed between different groups. Their ministry to our ministry, their department to our department. Their industry to our industry. These I will not discuss in detail, but out of this, investment in major sectors are, manufacturing: 61,765 Cr, MSME: 50,710 Cr, Urban Development: 46,600 Cr, Transport: 36,801 Cr and I am happy to say that despite this demonetisation and remonetisation, a total of Rs 2,35,290 crore or nearly 35 billion USD has been committed in this Biswa Bangla Conference. We believe that at this junction, Rs 2,35,200 crore is enough, we do not believe in announcing big numbers and then xero implementation.

We are proud of our state, we are proud of our soil, we are proud of our industries, we are proud of our country, we are proud of our international friends, and now the global world has become a sweet family. We are very happy that this is the first time 29 countries have participated in this global business conference. We are very honoured. Please convey our best wishes and best regards to your brothers and sisters from here. Please do come again to Bengal, Bengal welcomes you always. Please consider this as your second home.

Bengal deserves business because Bengal has the cultural heritage & the industrial heritage. Bengal was number one. Because of the misrule of the previous government, we are facing the hardships. There may be hardships, but I believe that we will conquer the world with our hard work, I believe so.

We thank Amit Da, thanks to your team, the administration, the captains of the industry, my chambers, all the core groups, to all the liaison officials, press media and all for their very good cooperation.

I would like to conclude with the words of Biswa Kavi Rabindranath Tagore,

‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
…
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.’

‘Sare Jahan se Accha Hindustan hamara’.

We believe in
‘বাংলার মাটি, বাংলার জল, বাংলার বায়ু, বাংলার ফল— পুণ্য হউক, পুণ্য হউক, পুণ্য হউক হে ভগবান॥‘

We believe in
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai.

We wish all of you all the best. Thank you so much.
Jai hind, vande mataram.