The Bengal government on Friday held meetings with diplomats in Delhi and industrialists and consular corps in Calcutta to pitch the state’s industry potential and seek their participation ahead of the state’s flagship industry event — the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) scheduled on February 5 and 6, 2025.

After a pause in 2024, the state is expecting a large participation of both global delegations and Indian industrialists at the 2025 summit.

“Today we held a meeting in Delhi where Ambassadors, High Commissioners and senior diplomats from more than 42 countries joined. My colleague Chandrima Bhattacharya was present in Delhi and Amit Mitra had joined virtually,” Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Diplomats from Europe, CIS, SAARC, Arab and West Asia, Africa, Asean, Latin America, North America, East Asia and Southeast Asia and several other regions were present at the meeting in Delhi, jointly organised with Ficci.

At the Calcutta meeting, senior state government officials, leading industrialists, including Sanjiv Puri, president of CII and chairman of ITC, Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Harsh Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group, Y.K. Modi, chairman of Great Eastern Energy Corp, Harsh Agarwal, president Ficci and vice-chairman and MD, Emami, Umesh Chowdhary, vice-chairman and managing director, Titagarh Rail Systems, Sanjay Budhia, MD Patton, were present along with consul-generals in the city.

The chief minister said that since the 2023 edition of the BGBS, the state has made significant progress. While highlighting the state’s initiative in developing the Silicon Valley Hub and drawing investments in data centres, she also pointed to the proposed cable landing station that will strengthen the telecom and IT backbone in the state.

“BGBS 2023 was attended by delegates from 17 partner countries. This year we expect the numbers to be higher,” the chief minister said.

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, who is part of an upcoming plant of Captain Steel in the state, pointed out how the chief minister has guided and helped him in his endeavour.

Dilip Dugar of Siliguri-based PCM Group highlighted the changing scenario in north Bengal with big hotel chains coming up, leading to more investments.

At the Delhi meeting, Amit Mitra, principal chief adviser to the Bengal chief minister, who attended virtually, said the state is transforming into a hub for manufacturing and logistics, creating jobs and enhancing exports.

Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya emphasised to the foreign diplomats that the state offers seamless connectivity for international trade, abundant natural resources, robust infrastructure and a skilled workforce.