Biz honchos eye Bengal

Kolkata: It cannot possibly get bigger than this. With all eyes set on the two-day-long fourth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) to be inaugurated on Tuesday at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, New Town, Bengal is ready to welcome more than 3,000 delegates from the US, France, Japan, Germany, China, Italy, Russia, UK and Poland.

France is the partner country at the 2018 BGBS. As a result, 10 leading French companies have confirmed their participation at the international business summit which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at 11.30 am on Tuesday.

BGBS 2017 was inaugurated by the then President Pranab Mukherjee. Investment proposals worth Rs 2,35,290.03 crore were received in 2017.

The representatives of Italy, France and Korea visited Nabanna, the state Secretariat, on Monday afternoon and met state Finance minister Amit Mitra. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hosted a dinner for the delegates at Eco Park in New Town on Monday.

Sajjan Jindal and Uday Kotak of Kotak Group attended the dinner. There were representatives from the Adani group. Sanjiv Goenka and Sanjiv Puri were also present. Industrialist Mukesh Ambani is scheduled to attend Tuesday's BGBS event.

This is for the first time when BGBS is going to be organised at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre which is a 3000+ capacity auditorium. From the Airport to Nabanna, the area has been declared as a green corridor. VIP Road has been brightly illuminated and fully repaired. No billboards have been allowed on the green corridor. New Town has been elaborately decorated to welcome the guests. The roads have been illuminated. Firhad Hakim, state Urban Development minister, held a series of meetings with senior officials of the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) and New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) to oversee the arrangements. The delegates have been put up in star hotels in New Town.

The state government did not disclose the names of the who's who are attending the two-day event. The captains of the industry from Bengal will attend the meeting. There will be eight sessions in two days. On Tuesday, there will be discussions on chemicals, petrochemicals and downstream, textile and apparel, tourism, IT/ITes and Start-Ups, B2B and B2G meetings. On Wednesday, discussions will be on infrastructure, agriculture and food processing, fisheries and agri-marketing, health, education and skill development and engineering. Some short films have also been made to highlight the advantage and prospects of investing in Bengal.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had visited England and Scotland in November 2017 and invited businessmen to join the BGBS. British and Scottish entrepreneurs are likely to come to attend the two-day meeting. A Chinese delegation comprising 30 businessmen and government officials will attend the event too.

The slogan for BGBS 2018 is "Bengal means Business". The branding of 100 buses based on BGBS will ply from the airport to other destinations. The state government has left no stone unturned to make BGBS a grand success. The Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said over and over again that as Bengal is the gateway to eastern and north-eastern states, it is the ideal destination for investment. It is also close to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar and Singapore is which is just two hours' journey and so it is always wise to invest here.