The Hindu Business Line : India, China must move together: Natwar

IN a fast changing global political and economic scenario, India wants to move ahead in close association with China. This was highlighted by the Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr K. Natwar Singh.

Speaking at a business seminar, organised by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) in association with the Consular Corps of Kolkata, here recently, Mr Singh said that India strongly believed that these two countries, inheriting great civilizations, had to move together rather than confront each other.

Similarly, India wanted to establish friendly ties with all countries in South-East Asia. He said, "West Bengal stands to gain maximum economic advantage from the emerging situation."

The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said he was aware of the State's locational advantage. All efforts were being made to send the message that the incumbent Left Front Government in the State was private investor friendly as well as committed to curbing trade union activities.

Incidentally, he said that the State Government had altered its policies in conformity with changes taking place throughout the world.

The Chief Minister said: "We are learning our lesson from mistakes we made in the past. The people who love to criticise us should see how rural Bengal has progressed and private and foreign investments are coming into the State in areas such as information technology, iron & steel, chemicals & plastics and food processing."

However, M. Bhattacharjee urged Mr Singh to take a personal interest in trying to arrange for financial assistance from the Centre, facilitating the State Government to develop necessary infrastructure such as international standard airports, seaports and roads.

The State Government was yet to develop adequate infrastructure facilities due to shortage of resources. The Government was thus welcoming private investments in the infrastructure sector.

He assured prospective investors that the State Government was determined not to allow any "irresponsible" activities in the name of trade unionism.

Although the mindset of workers in the traditional industries such as jute and engineering was yet to change completely, the attitude of the new generation working class in the sunrise industries was totally different. He said the State's IT and software exports grew by 120 per cent in the last financial year. About 24,000 persons were working in the IT sector.

The number was expected to touch 58,000 within six months because a number of leading domestic and foreign IT companies, including Wipro, Satyam, IBM, GE Capital and ICRA, were setting up units in the State.

More Stories on : Foreign Trade | Other States

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page