French Development Agency team to visit Bengal for forest conservation talks with govt

Kolkata: To further strengthen the bilateral ties between India and France, a team of representatives of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) of the French government will be visiting Bengal at the end of this month to discuss funding conservation efforts of North Bengal forests with the state government.

At the sidelines of an event, the French Consul General in Kolkata, Didier Talpain told Millennium Post that a team of representatives of AFD, also known as French Development Agency, will be visiting North Bengal at the end of this month. The focus is on conservation of biodiversity in the North Bengal forest region. Areas that will be stressed on are reforestation and paving the way for a wildlife corridor, the Consul General pointed out, adding that discussions are afoot with the state Forest department.

In India, AFD is already funding conservation for the Kaziranga National Park. Asked if any such similar efforts are planned for the ecologically fragile Sundarbans area, he said: “Parallel to the North Bengal conservation plans, we are also thinking more and more of the mangrove reforestation etc.”

Further, it was learnt that the newly-appointed French Ambassador to India, Thierry Mathou is scheduled to visit Kolkata this month and is likely to travel to the Sundarbans. “We will discuss plans with the West Bengal government. At the same time, a round table discussion is also scheduled to be held this month with the AFD representatives where talks on mangroves will be on the agenda. There will also be guests from Bangladesh since the majority part of the Sundarbans lies there. Things relating to these plans are so far moving in the right direction,” Didier Talpain said.

Commenting on whether there will be a French delegation at the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit, the Consul General said: “A representative from the Business France Desk at the French Embassy, New Delhi will be reaching Kolkata to attend the BGBS. There will be meetings with some Indian brands in Kolkata and then we will attend the business summit. It’s a good opportunity for investments,” he highlighted.