Mamata visits Germany, Italy to bring in investors

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set out for Germany and Italy on Sunday to draw investment for the state.

While leaving Kolkata airport, she said: "We need to go abroad once a year to attract investment for the state that will in-turn help in job creation. Representatives from around 40 countries come to the state to attend Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS). The Summit is organised every year since the change of guard in the state in order to attract more industrial investment. These foreign trips serve as stepping stones to this annual Summit and hence are crucial. There are invitations from countries like Poland, Russia and the US as well."

She further maintained: "We chose one country every year for our visit. Germany and Italy are two neighbouring countries and it will not take much time to travel from Germany to Italy. So we have decided to visit both. We will be holding business meetings in both the countries with an aim to attract investment for Bengal." The Chief Minister further added that a group of ministers and a committee of officers have been set up to take necessary steps in case of an emergency situation like floods when she will be in Germany and Italy.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister has taken several steps in the past seven years to attract investment in Bengal. Emphasis was given on developing the infrastructure needed for industry and at the same time, the state has become number one in the country in terms of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector.

Now, the Chief Minister is going to visit Frankfurt in Germany and Milan in Italy famous all over the world for its leather goods manufacturing industry. Banerjee's visit to Italy comes at a time when Bengal is also growing as a crucial stakeholder in the state in the same industry.

The Chief Minister, who left for Germany on Sunday along with a team of businessmen from Bengal, will be returning on September 28. The state Commerce and Industry minister Amit Mitra, Chief Secretary Malay De and Additional Chief Secretary of Finance department Hari Krishna Dwivedi are also accompanying her.