CM to set out for China tonight, Amit Mitra & dept heads in tow

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will set out for her China tour on Friday. Finance minister Amit Mitra, along with senior officials of departments including Industry, Finance and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, are part of the delegation to be led by the Chief Minister.

On Friday night, the Chief Minister will be leaving for China and she will reach Beijing via Singapore.

Banerjee will be in Beijing from June 23 to 27. After spending four days in Beijing, she will go to Shanghai by train on June 27. She will be staying in Shanghai till June 30.

In Beijing, she will be interacting with political leaders from the country. Senior bureaucrats from China will also be present in the meetings. It has been learnt that the programmes in Shanghai will primarily be business and trade oriented.

The Chief Minister and the Finance minister will be highlighting the industry friendly environment in Bengal. Top officials of different departments of the state government will also be highlighting the state's strength in their respective sectors.

There will also be interactions among industrialists as well. There will be a crucial meeting on June 28 in Shanghai, in which top industrialists from the region will be present.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011, by uprooting the Left Front government and the state witnessed a change of guard after 34 long years.

In the past seven years, Banerjee has ensured massive development in creating infrastructure to attract investment in the state. Starting from development of roadways to creation of a land bank, steps taken by her have helped attract investment to the state. At the same time, the state has also become immensely successful in the MSME sector in the past seven years.

The Mamata Banerjee government also organises Bengal Global Business Summit every year and top industrialists from different parts of the world attend the summit. China was also present in the BGBS held in January.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister had earlier visited countries like Germany, UK and Singapore. She had interacted with industrialists in the countries and they were informed about the industry friendly atmosphere in the state. It has helped bring more investment to the state.

She had also gone to Netherlands, where she received the United Nations Public Service Award for Asia Pacific, for the Kanyashree Prakalpa.