Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has been invited to visit Australia under the Special Visits Programme managed by the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Under this programme, prominent leaders from India are invited to meet with Australian leaders, decision makers, businesses and commentators. These visits provide an opportunity for Indians to highlight best practices and foster two-way sharing of knowledge between Australia and India.
Banerjee has been informed that the programme will be tailored to his particular interests and is generally of one-week duration during which he will be covering several regions of the land of Kangaroos. The cost of business class travel, hotel accommodation and meals will be met by the Australian government.
According to sources, a team from the Australian High Commission had visited Banerjee’s Camac Street office in March and had informed him of the matter. Accordingly, a formal invitation was sent through email in June. However, Banerjee was unable to look seriously into the invitation as he was very busy with campaigning for the Panchayat elections in Bengal , the results of which were declared on July 11. A few days after the results, he went to America for his eye treatment and returned to Kolkata on August 20.
Recently, Banerjee has received a message reminding him of the earlier invitation. According to sources, Banerjee’s office has started to collect information regarding this programme. However, Banerjee has not yet decided whether he will be going to Australia.
In the formal invitation, Banerjee has been provided the necessary contact from where details regarding the programme can be sought.