Future looks bright as European nations promise better ties

Kolkata: European countries that have had a significant presence in the 4th edition of Bengal Global Business Summit, promised to foster greater ties with Bengal on the first day of the summit.

Italy signed the first MoU in the BGBS. Meanwhile, France, who is also a partner country out of eight others in this year's summit, had sent a strong business delegation to explore opportunity in harnessing greater economic cooperation.

French minister-counsellor and head of regional economic department, India, Jean Marc Fenet said 12 companies of delegations from varied sectors including energy, infrastructure, tourism and water management were among others present on Tuesday. The minister-counsellor maintained that last minute discussion and MoUs are expected on Wednesday, the last day of the summit.

He said that some companies like Suez and Poma are in the process of tying up with Bengal. "French companies are particularly interested to invest in the hospitality sector and are contemplating to come up with a few more hotels in the city," he said.

Dassault Systemes said that they are trying work with the SMEs of Bengal to empower them with technology to upgrade their capability.

Schneider Electrical officials said they are trying work in the area of rural electrification and the Railway Braking system business, which has been transferred from Baroda to Kolkata.

Matiere, a leading French company in bridge construction with specialisation in earth-moving, concrete structures and most importantly metal structures, also attended the summit and held meetings with concerned government officials.

Matiere has recently made a joint venture with Titagarh Group in the state that has a permanent French representative in the city.

There was also representation from Capgemini, one of the world's largest IT consulting, outsourcing and professional services company, that employs 3,000 people from the city.

Apart from Italy and France, the other partner countries include Japan, Poland, Czech Republic, France, Germany, South Korea, China and UK.

BGBS has received participation from 32 countries in this edition.