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Bengal

German delegation meets Speaker, expresses interest to invest in Bengal

Kolkata: A ten-member delegation from German Federal Parliament (Bundestag), the Indo-German Parliamentary Association met Speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly Biman Banerjee on Monday and expressed their interest for further cooperation and investment in a number of sectors like health, renewable energy and education.

A number of state cabinet ministers were present during an hour-long interaction at the state Assembly.

"We learnt about the functioning of the various government departments and also shared how our government works. We are happy to know that the state's GDP is much higher than the national average. We will take the deliberations forward and we hope to make investments in health, education and renewable energy in the days to come," said Jurgen Hardt, Member of the German Parliament, who headed the ten-member team.

Hardt claimed that it's their first visit in the state and they have been overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Speaker and senior ministers of the state cabinet.

Speaker Biman Banerjee said that the meeting was a wonderful exchange of thoughts and ideas. "Both India and Germany are democratic countries and this sort of interactions will strengthen the bonding between the two countries," he added.

Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, state Power minister, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, minister of state for Health, Shashi Panja, minister of state for Women and Child Development, Moloy Ghatak, state Labour minister and Siddiqullah Chowdhury, minister of Mass Education Extension & Library Services attended the meeting.

"We (ministers) spoke about how our respective departments have carried out development work in the state since 2011," said Chandrima Bhattacharjee.

State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said that his department proposed to take technical know-how from Germany for harnessing solar energy in a more effective manner.

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