Come to Bengal: Mamata tells Dutch biz captains

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the business community in Netherlands to invest in Bengal " because of its investment- friendly environment."

She was addressing a business meeting organised by the "Opportunities in Bengal" Forum at Hague on Wednesday afternoon. Flanked by the chief secretary Basudeb Bandopadhyay and state Finance Minister Amit Mitra with Hans de Boer, president VNO- NCW, chief minister addressed a packed auditorium. The additional chief secretary, Industries Rajiva Sinha was also present at the meeting. Banerjee's straight and candid speech was appreciated by the business honchos at the meeting.

She said Bengal was the ideal destination for investment as there is no dearth of talent and trained professionals. " The old legacy is over and in the past six years the new government has taken up several schemes like land policy which will benefit investors immensely. Bengal has a pool of talented professionals and they are the best in the country," she stated.

" Bengal is the gateway to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and even close to Singapore. The geographical position will help the investors to explore Bengal as the investment destination," the Bengal CM told prospective investors.

Referring to Bengal's long cultural heritage and tradition, she said: " Bengal is the cultural hub of the country and the investors will feel at home in Bengal because of the warmth of the people."

The chief minister said in the past six years the state government had witnessed exponential growth in Micro Small and Medium Enterprises. " We welcome investment in the MSME sector," she said. Banerjee said the working environment in Bengal was the best in India and the state government would provide every possible help to the investors.

She said in the past six years sustainable development had taken place in West Bengal and its GDP was better than the rest of the country.

Amit Mitra said Hans de Boer had assured Banerjee that a special delegation of Dutch businessmen would be attending the Bengal Global Business Summit scheduled to be held in January next year.

Earlier in the day, the state government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Netherlands Football Association to train football coaches in Bengal. A delegation from the Association will come to Kolkata in September.