German delegation likely to attend Bengal biz meet

The presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has created a lasting impression in the minds of the German business fraternity and a big delegation from the country is expected to attend the Bengal Global Business Summit, scheduled to held on January 20 and 21 next year, state Finance minister 

Amit Mitra said.

A 29-member business delegation led by Mitra met corporate honchos and key representatives of different chambers of commerce in Munich, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart in the past few days. Many senior bureaucrats, including Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, were also part of the team. The Chief Minister joined the team after attending the Canonisation ceremony of Mother Teresa at Vatican City on September 4. Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee was part of the team that met the Dusseldorf mayor.

Before leaving Germany, Mitra said the German businessmen did not have any idea about the development that had taken place under  Mamata Banerjee’s leadership. She met the businessmen and had detailed discussions with them. Representatives from the German manufacturing and engineering, foundry and automobile industries called on the Chief Minister and expressed satisfaction over the meeting. 55 business-to-business and business-to-government talks had taken place and talks had taken place.

Asked what impact the visit would have in Germany, Mitra said the confidence building measures (CBM) had been very successful and now both the countries would have to translate thoughts into action. “I am hopeful that a big German delegation will come for the BGBS next year,” he said.

The Bengal delegation met top bosses of BMW at their plant and the global automobile giant had made three presentations. The meeting lasted for three hours. The Chief Minister, during the interactive session, requested BMW to manufacture e-rickshaws in Bengal. The business meetings had been held in an atmosphere of cordiality. Summing up the business trip Mitra remarked: “On the whole, the trip has been very successful and it will yield results.”