August 19, 2014
Bengal and Singapore Govt to jointly set up Business Centre in Kolkata
WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee today held a meeting with the Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong at Shangri La hotel in Singapore. After the meeting, she met the press and said that the meeting was positive, constructive and fruitful.
She said that the focus of the meeting was industry, business and trade. She talked about the land bank, land map and power bank of the State. She also said that Singapore and Bengal will jointly set up a Business Centre in Kolkata.
Full transcript of her address to the media:
The meeting with Singapore PM was positiveand fruitful. He was very cordial. He is aware of West Bengal and Kolkata. Wehave invited him to visit our State. We told him about the progress made byChangi Airport in the construction of Andal airport. Bengal and Singapore willjointly set up a Business Centre in Kolkata; it will come up in 18 months. Weinvited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Centre.
We told him that we want to create a Chair atCalcutta University in the name of his father and the first Prime Minister ofSingapore, Lee Kuan Yew. We want to develop the relation between Bengal andSingapore in a more cordial manner.
He inquired about the MNCs working inBengal, like those from Japan. We informed him about the total scenario. We have focused on industry, business andtrade. We have told the Singapore PM about our land bank, land map and powerbank. Bengal is endowed with hills, forests, rivers and sea coast. We have alot of scope for tourism. We told him about the scope of investment in ourFinancial Hub and informed him about the urban cities that are being developed.
I told him that this was my first foreigntrip in the last 15 years. I told the PM that since the time difference betweenKolkata and Singapore is just two and a half hours, it will be an importantadvantage in business. We also told him that the loss of mandays in Bengal havecome down from 78 lakhs to zero. We also informed him about our GSDP growth andother such statistics.
The meeting was excellent, positive andconstructive. Singapore PM wished us well and hoped that our business meetingtomorrow will be a success. We chose Singapore for investment destinationbecause of geographical, historical, political and cultural reasons. We haverequested the Singapore PM to make Kolkata a part of the diamond jubilee celebrationsof Indo-Singapore ties.
