Kolkata, Offering “business with a smile” and “without tension”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here on Wednesday wooed investors claiming the state didn’t discriminate against anybody and its economic fundamentals were better than the national average.
“Bengal is the lifeline of business. Please invest in Bengal. We will give you full cooperation,” Banerjee said inaugurating the two-day Bengal Business Conclave at the sea resort of Digha in the East Midnapore district.
The Chief Minister said, the “gloom and doom situation or the loot or scoot situation” was not present in the state.
“What I am offering you is business with a smile. Business without any tension,” she told the delegates from 28 countries at the swanky newly built Biswa Bangla Convention Centre.
Banerjee the state was the guiding light for the rest of India as it epitomised togetherness and pluralism. “We don’t divide the people. We never utter single word against any caste or creed or religion. We believe all of us are together. Nobody can say even once that they are deprived or discriminated against,” she said.
Touching upon the economic “downturn” in the country, Banerjee said performance of Bengal in the fields of employment, growth and poverty alleviation were much above the national average.
Highlighting the advantages, she said Bengal was the gateway to South East Asia with proximity to major international destinations, like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore.
Trying to hard sell the tourism potential of the state, the Chief Minister said Bengal received 16 lakh foreign and eight crore domestic tourists annually that presented huge opportunities to investors.
The state not only provided the best variety of tea, but there was also lot of scope for tea tourism, she added.
She also mentioned the state’s land use policy, land bank, information technology policy.
Delegates from 28 countries, including the UK, the USA, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Poland, Australia, Thailand, Russia, Italy and China, are attending the conclave.
A large number of business-to-business and business-to-government meetings are lined up for Thursday, before the concluding session deliberates upon the sectoral opportunities in the state.
According to the state government, the convention seeks to focus on regional cooperation and strengthening ties with partner countries, states and cities of the Bengal Global Business Summit, the previous edition of which was held in February.
The sectors in focus would included agriculture and allied services, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, MSMEs and tourism.
