Soon, MSME hub to come up in Howrah

An MSME hub is coming up in Howrah in which all infrastructural and power facilities would be provided within a radius of 50 km, Rajiva Sinha, additional chief secretary, Industry, said on Friday.

He was speaking on " Bengal as an investment destination" organised by MCCI at a central Kolkata hotel on Friday morning.

Referring to Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), Sinha said that 40–50 percent of business proposals worth Rs five lakh crore had been put into action for BGBS 2015 and 2016. For BGBS 2017, no review has been done as yet. He requested the business community to declare business proposals at BGBS, as then it would receive more importance and would be put into fast track.

Regarding a regional alliance between the neighbouring countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh for tourism and other sectors, he felt that there should be mutual cooperation among the participating countries.

The meeting was also addressed by Damiano Francovigh, Consul General of Italy in Kolkata, Mohan Niraula, Trade Consul, Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata, Leki Tenzin, Trade Consul, Royal Bhutanese Consulate in Kolkata and Mr Jonathan Ward, Principal Commercial Officer, US Consulate General in Kolkata.

Leki Tenzin emphasised on a Regional Alliance for tourism with India, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries for collective and mutual benefits. He also pointed out that India in spite of having all resources in abundance ranked 130 out of 189 countries in Ease of Doing Business, in which China ranked 11th and Bhutan 73rd. This should be rectified, he felt. He also spoke of shifting focus to Manufacturing from Trading for sustainable benefits.

Damiano Francovigh spoke about the scope of Italian cooperation with the business community in India. Mohan Niraula highlighted on Indo-Nepal cooperation. Jonathan Ward invited business community from Bengal for partnering with US and invest in his country for mutual benefits.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Hemant Bangur, president MCCI, said that the objective of MCCI Diplomats' Forum was to provide a platform for discussion towards convergence, with the diplomatic corps of different countries. This forum was the first one in the series with such interactive sessions that will be organised periodically.