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Meeting with Singapore PM constructive: Mamata

by IBNS 18 Aug 2014, 11:14 pm

Singapore, Aug 19 (IBNS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday held a meeting with the Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong at Shangri La hotel in Singapore, at the end of which she called the interaction as positive, constructive and fruitful.

She said that the focus of the meeting was industry, business and trade. She talked about the land bank, land map and power bank of the State. She also said that Singapore and Bengal will jointly set up a Business Centre in Kolkata.

 

"He was very cordial. He is aware of West Bengal and Kolkata. We have invited him to visit our State. We told him about the progress made by Changi Airport in the construction of Andal airport. Bengal and Singapore will jointly set up a Business Centre in Kolkata; it will come up in 18 months. We invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Centre," said Mamata.

 

"We told him that we want to create a Chair at Calcutta University in the name of his father and the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. We want to develop the relation between Bengal and Singapore in a more cordial manner. We have requested him to invest in Rajarhat Financial Hub too," said Mamata.

 

"He inquired about the MNCs working in Bengal, like those from Japan. We informed him about the total scenario.  We have focused on industry, business and trade. We have told the Singapore PM about our land bank, land map and power bank. Bengal is endowed with hills, forests, rivers and sea coast. We have a lot of scope for tourism. We told him about the scope of investment in our Financial Hub and informed him about the urban cities that are being developed," she said.

 

"I told the PM that since the time difference between Kolkata and Singapore is just two and a half hours, it will be an important advantage in business. We also told him that the loss of mandays in Bengal have come down from 78 lakhs to zero. We also informed him about our GSDP growth and other such statistics," she said.

 

"We chose Singapore for investment destination because of geographical, historical, political and cultural reasons. We have requested the Singapore PM to make Kolkata a part of the diamond jubilee celebrations of Indo-Singapore ties," said Mamata.

 

In a bid to attract more investments and partnerships, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee commenced her first foreign trip as CM as she left for Singapore on Sunday last.