KOLKATA: In the shadow of slower economic growth in the country after the implementation of new indirect tax regime and a renewed anti-land acquisition protest at Bhangar in the state, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is to inaugurate the fourth edition of its annual two-day business summit today (Tuesday) that will see participation from over 30 countries.

The authorities are yet to formally announce any list of Indian business captains who would attend the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), 2018.

But industry doyens like Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Steel maker ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal, JSW Group’s Chief Sajjan Jindal, city based FMCG major ITC’s CEO Sanjiv Puri, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Chairman Sanjiv Goenka and others are expected to attend this year’s summit.

In an effort to shed the state’s investor-wary image and woo much-needed business capital, the state government had reached out to various parts of the country and even foreign countries in the lead up to the event, being held in the sprawling Biswa Bangla Convention Centre at Rajarhat in Kolkata.

Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea and the UK are among the overseas nations to be represented at the mega business gathering.

Consul General of China in Kolkata, Ma Zhanwu had recently confirmed 30 Chinese companies would participate in the business meet and according to him, Chinese companies aimed at utilising BGBS and other opportunities towards fulfilling the goal to invest $200 billion abroad every year.

Italy will also be participating in this edition as a partner country in the Summit for the second year in a row, with an expected delegation of more than 30 companies where the sectors most represented will be transport and infrastructure, metals and leather.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will likely be signed in the leather sector, for new technologies and training programmes.

A high level Polish delegation headed by Marek Magierowski, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for the relations with Asia and economic cooperation, will participate in the BGBS.

Representatives of Silesia, an economically robust region of the east European country, and West Bengal will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral cooperation.

Indo-Asian News Service