Jaitley attends dinner hosted by Mamata ahead of business summit

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday interacted with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during an introductory programme and dinner hosted by her on the eve of the two-day fourth Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS).

Jaitley, who arrived in the city in the evening, is scheduled to deliver a special address during the inaugural session of the summit in which around 1,000 business leaders from 20 countries are participating. Union Roads, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari is also slated to speak at the summit Wednesday.

Several big-ticket offshore business delegations from 15 countries including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, the US and Australia are in Kolkata for the summit which the state government is utilising to showcase West Bengal as an ideal investment destination.

A host of industrial honchos including ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar, Coca Cola India vice president (marketing) Venkatesh Kini, The Chatterjee Group chairman Purnendu Chatterjee, Amity Group of Institutions president Ashok Chauhan, G.P. Goenka of G.P. Goenka Group, FICCI president Jyotsna Suri, and former FICCI president Y.K. Modi were among those who attended the programme.

Also present at the event staged on an island amid the lake at the Eco Park in Rajarhat New town were R.P.-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka, Indusind Bank chairman R. Seshasayee and Bandhan CMD Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.

Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon and consuls of various countries were also present.

Meanwhile, official sources said Patricia Hewitt, chairperson of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), Hiroaki Ishizuka, representative director, board member, president and CEO, Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Kanesan Veluppillai, deputy managing director, Scomi Group would attend the summit which hopes to provide a blueprint for new business opportunities in the state.

Banerjee during the day met Hewitt and had one-on-one meetings with Adi Godrej, chairman of Godrej group, Niranjan and Darshan Hiranandani of the Hiranandani Group, and Sulajja Firodia Motwani, joint MD of Kinetic Motor Company.

The focus sectors for this year's summit is urban infrastructure and housing, IT and ITeS, food processing, horticulture and floriculture, MSME and textiles, healthcare, education, manufacturing, energy and infrastructure, hospitality, tourism, entertainment and financial services.