Wish you a successful visit to UK: David Cameron to Mamata Banerjee

Wish you a successful visit to UK: David Cameron to Mamata Banerjee

Posted on July 28, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

UK PM David Cameron, who could not be in London because of a foreign visit, sent a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee on Monday apologising for his absence.

“I fondly recall our meeting in Kolkata in November 2013 when we discussed the positive UK-West Bengal bilateral cooperation that exists and the wealth of trade and investment opportunities this offers. I am delighted that you will be visiting London to see these opportunities first hand. I am sorry that due to my travel plans I will not be in London to see you in person. I wish you a successful and rewarding visit which will help forge the close ties between UK and Bengal,” reads an excerpt from the letter.

Interestingly, it was Mr Cameron who first invited Mamata to the UK. In 2013, during his first term as PM, Cameron had made a stop to the Indian Institute of Management, Joka (IIM-Joka) and interacted with students for nearly an hour.

WB CM was received by minister Priti Patel, minister of state for employment at the department for work and pensions.

Commenting on the personal letter from Cameron, WB CM tweeted: “21 MoU’s are a good sign of Britain’s partnership with Bengal. I thank him for his good wishes.”

The image is from 2013 when PM Cameron met WB CM in Kolkata

Mamata Banerjee becomes first CM from India to get an official reception at Buckingham Palace

Posted on July 28, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Mamata Banerjee on Monday became the first chief minister from an Indian state to get an official reception at Buckingham Palace, Britain’s most iconic address. Prince Andrew hosted an evening tea for the Chief Minister at the house of the monarch.

A fruitful meeting

The Chief Minister had a 40-minute one-on-one interview with Prince Andrew, who described her as “a very dynamic leader, leading a dynamic government, sowing the transformation of Bengal”. The prince, it was learnt, has gifted the chief minister a bag with motifs of Buckingham Palace on it.

Mamata herself said later: “I had been to London once before and have walked past Buckingham Palace, never knowing that I would enter it one day . Prince Andrew gave me a very warm reception, and even came all the way out to see me off. The prince inquired about the changing economic and political face of Bengal and our initiatives around tax collection. He has plans to work with women of Bengal under the aegis of a few of his NGOs.

“I apprised him of all our women-friendly schemes like Muktir Alo (a plan to rehabilitate trafficked women and sex workers willing to leave the profession), and the work we’ve done for the transgender community. Buckingham Palace is a monument which has been at the centre of some of the world’s historic decisions.”

Personalised gift

Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer, Rembrandt and van Dyck line up the walls of Britain’s most coveted art gallery -the state room of Buckingham Palace. The hallowed walls may soon have another addition: the work of Mamata Banerjee, the artist.

The Bengal Chief Minister gifted a hand-painted work of hers to the Duke of York -Prince Andrew -second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth.

Mamata Banerjee has won the heart of the British royal family by carrying with her special gifts for princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. She handed over some clothes to Indian High Commissioner Ranjan Mathai for the baby to be passed on to the royal family.

Parallels with Gandhi

The Chief Minister drew comparisons to none other than Mahatma Gandhi on the first day of her maiden visit to Britain, braving a cold, and dark British summer day in her everyday attire: white cotton sari and Hawaii chappals, with a casually draped shawl her only concession to the weather.

Mamata Banerjee fights jet lag – With a walk around in London

Posted on July 28, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Mamata Banerjee beat her jet-lag in her own quintessential style, by walking around London.

After breakfast at the St James Court – where the Chief Minister of Bengal is staying during her 5-day visit to London – Ms Banerjee decided to take a walk around the streets of London, apparently to beat jet lag. The 7-km walk was done in quintessentially Mamata Banerjee style – rubber flip flops and cotton saree and a shawl to beat the cold winds.

She decided to walk down Victoria Street and led herself into St James Park – no Google maps, no local Londoner to show her the way. That was the way she explored central London.

The walk ended with a visit to a coffee shop. Coffee shops like these were “a must” in Kolkata and may mean more jobs, an official recalled her saying.

The Mayor of Kolkata was said to have a verbal message sent to her through an official was accompanying her. The message: “Please look around London, and see if we can take ideas for the city of Kolkata back with us”.

Back home, the Chief Minister has already started a project to beautify the Hooghly (Ganga) river, taking London’s Thames river as a model.

The article was first published in NDTV website

Mamata in London – Day 1 itinerary

Posted on July 27, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee reached London at around 11 PM IST, last night with the Bengal business delegation. On social media, she had informed yesterday night that that the meetings will start tomorrow, July 27.

West Bengal Chief Minister’s itinerary on July 27, 2015:

The official delegation has several meetings lined up today with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Envac, Wembleyon Smart SWM Project, Royal College of General Practitioners, Future Child Catapult and Rothchild.

WB CM will attend a business event hosted by the UKIBC and FICCI in the afternoon.

West Bengal Chief Minister will be visiting the Buckingham Palace on an invitation extended to her by the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.

Today, the West Bengal Chief Minister will also hold a meeting with the Rt Hon Priti Patel, Minister of State for Employment, Government of UK, to discuss several issues regarding Bengal and will be given a felicitation by FCO at the famous Locarno Suite.

Expect to sign over 20 MoUs in UK: Mamata

Posted on July 27, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she was expecting to sign over 20 MoUs during her five-day visit to the United Kingdom.

Mamata Banerjee, who left for UK on Sunday, told media persons: “We hope to attract investment to make West Bengal an ideal destination.”

“In all, around 100 people are going to London. We will sign 22 to 23 MoUs, which will be good for business. We will focus on areas such as infrastructure development, education, health and tourism,” said the CM.

The meetings are scheduled to begin with a conference of British CEOs at the UK India Business Council meet on July 27. She would also attend a meeting of UKIBC and FICCI to discuss various issues related to business opportunities in the state on the same day.

The CM would also meet the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, at the Buckingham Palace. Ms Banerjee would meet British Employment Minister Priti Patel at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office where several MoUs would be signed.

On July 28, she would meet several business delegates, secretaries and partners who would also sign some MoUs. She would pay floral tributes at the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

There would also be a cultural event in the evening at the Natural History Museum.

Mamata Banerjee arrives in London for five-day visit

Posted on July 27, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in London, UK late Sunday night on a five-day tour heading an over 90-member entourage in a bid to attract investment to the state.

The team consists of Finance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra, nearly 50-member business delegation, three Trinamool Congress MPs Derek O’Brien, Sugato Bose and actor Deepak Adhikari (Deb), Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and several officials.

ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka and Ambuja Neotia Group chairman Harsh Neotia are there in the business delegation.

Industrialist Sanjay Budhia, who is also in the delegation, said he is hopeful that the trip would bring investment in tourism, health and infrastructure sectors.

Mamata Banerjee’s trip to London was finalised following an invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The six-day trip, which will project West Bengal as an ideal destination for investment, would begin with a conference of British CEOs at the UK India Business Council meet on July 27.

She would also attend a meeting of UKIBC and FICCI to discuss various issues related to business opportunities in the state on the same day.

On July 28, she would meet several business delegates, secretaries and partners who would also sign some MoUs. She would pay floral tributes at the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

There would also be a cultural event in the evening at the Natural History Museum.

WB CM aims to revive family physicians

Posted on July 25, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Government is all set to roll out 2-Year Diploma Course with aid from Royal College Of General Practitioners.

Bengal is going all out to bring back a dying breed of doctors -family physicians. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Monday announce a two-year diploma course in family medicine to create a batch of family physicians for the state.

Mamata Banerjee will arrive in London on Sunday with a 60-member delegation for her three-day maiden visit to UK . On Monday , the state’s principal secretary of health Malay Kumar De will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to roll out the course.

Bengal is trying to bring back the family physician to the forefront of primary healthcare. Till now, most family physicians had MBBS degrees.

Bengal, in technical collaboration with RCGP, started a one-year fellowship in family medicine in 2012-13 for those with an MBBS degree. The fellowship was awarded jointly by West Bengal University of Health Sciences and RGCP and covered anesthesiology , critical care medicine, paediatrics, neonatology and orthopaedics and trauma care.

WB CM to promote Bengal as an investment destination in UK

Posted on July 24, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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.

More than 100 companies register to hear Mamata Banerjee in London

Posted on July 24, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The interest in Bengal among British business houses has shot through the roof.

Patricia Hewitt, the chair of the UKIBC, on whose invitation chief minister Mamata Banerjee is coming to London on Monday on her three-day visit, said that over 100 British conglomerates, ranging from retail and mining to banking, have now confirmed to attend the session on emerging opportunities in Bengal.

Renewed interest in Bengal

“I am very pleased by the turnout.The session will give the UK business houses a chance to hear directly from the government and from business honchos of Bengal who are travelling with the CM on what the business climate there is at present and the opportunities,” she said.

Hewitt, added that she is certain that Bengal will become a Mecca for British business houses in the next 3-5 years.

She added: “The British companies are impressed that the CM herself is coming. The positive messages from the Bengal investor summit in January which we relayed to our members and the fact that she is coming with a very serious business delegation is very helpful. The impressive business delegation from Bengal would be the best advocates of the business climate in the state“.

Positive image

According to Hewitt, around 20 British companies at present are functioning in Bengal -from HSBC and Standard Chartered to BT, Max Bupa, OCS and KPMG.

Hewitt said, “This is actually the first investor road show from India being led by a CM. It is very important that Bengal is seen as a business friendly destination and overcomes its negative perception. This visit will open up a whole new opportunity for the state.”

She admitted that she has seen a “very obvious change at the Bengal business summit“ in January. “Work was going on to make the state investor friendly. Over the last year, we have seen real moves on ease of doing business and on simplifying tax systems.”

Praise for the CM

Patricia Hewitt was all praise for Mamata Banerjee herself. “She is a consummate political leader and has an extra ordinary ability to connect to people.Personal warmth and empathy are her strengths. She and I connected strongly when we met in Bengal in January and we have a personal bond.”

Mamata help for Bengali course in UK

Posted on July 23, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

A top British institute, which has been teaching Bengali for about 100 years, is set to get a helping hand from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in running the course.

WB CM will announce a string of scholarships for students willing to study Bengali at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a premier institute under University of London, when she visits UK later this month.

She is expected to make the announcement while paying her homage to Rabindranath Tagore at Gordon Square in central London, near which SOAS is also located. SOAS has been teaching Bengali language ever since its inception 99 years ago.

The study of Bengali language and literature, and of Bengali history , society and culture, has a long history at SOAS, dating back to the foundation of the institute in 1916. The first London University post in Bengali had been established at the University College of London in the 1850s and it was presumably moved to SOAS when the school was established.