Teams to visit state capitals to spread word

A team from the Bengal government is likely to visit the capital cities of different states across the nation to promote Bengal as the best destination for investment. Road shows and business seminars will be conducted by senior officers of the state government as preparatory measures before the next edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), in 2018.

A draft calendar for the preparatory activities before BGBS was made by an officer of the West Bengal Industrial development Corporation Limited. But these activities will be carried out after receiving confirmation from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Commerce and Industry minister Amit Mitra.

"Primarily we are going to conduct road shows in cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. The road shows will be followed by business seminars where top industrialists will be invited," said a senior bureaucrat.

"We have listed a series of activities in the run up to BGBS 2018. Most of those are in the premature stage as the final approval is yet to come from the highest level. But I can say that we are primarily going to Metro cities for promotional campaigns," he added.

However, according to a state government source, Pune and the National Capital Region (NCR) are equally important for promoting the Biswa Bangla Brand.

"It was decided in the concluding day of BGBS 2017 that we would start working for the next BGBS from that very moment. We are constantly working on the investment proposals which we received there," the source said.

Japan, Poland, Italy and Germany were the partner countries in the last BGBS. The knowledge partner was KPMG, a professional service company. The summit partner was the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"The team may go to these countries for promotion as well, but promoting inside the country is being given preference this time. The senior officers of government representatives of FICCI and KPMG will team up to promote investment scenario of Bengal in those cities," the source added.

It may be mentioned that a total of Rs 2,35,290.03 crore of business announcements, business document exchanges, expressions of interest and investment proposals were received at the two day BGBS concluded in January this year. A large government and business delegation came from Jiangshu and Shaanxi provinces of China. Russian business and trade delegation exhibited some of their products and exchanged business interests. Government of Upper Selesia, Poland proposed cooperation in Mineral Exploration with Bengal government through West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation Limited.

"One of the remarkable thing that we have done in the last BGBS was to present Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation, a state owned company in front of the world. Such activities will be continued," the source added.