The West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, on Monday said the US was willing to partner her Government to bring in new investments in the State.
The US, she said, has expressed interest for investments in the health, education, engineering and technical education, manufacturing and IT sectors of the region.
Following a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, at Writers’ Buildings this morning, Ms Banerjee said that West Bengal has been selected as “partner state”. She, however, categorically denied that issues relating to the Teesta Water Sharing Accord and FDI in Retail were taken up during the nearly-hour-long discussion.
Briefing newspersons at Writers, Ms Banerjee said: "There have been very little investments in the region from the US in the past. But they have now selected us a partner State. We are re-building the relationships to ensure more investments in the State."
'We did not talk on Teesta or FDI in retail," she replied to a query.
Joint Committee
A joint committee has been formed to co-ordinate matters and look into issues relating to US investments in the region. The committee will be headed by the West Bengal Chief Secretary, Mr Samar Ghosh, as well as the US Ambassador to India, Ms Nancy Powell.
Meeting
Earlier around 11 a.m., Ms Clinton arrived with a large US delegation for the meeting. The Chief Minister was waiting in the lounge in front of her office to greet her.
Following an exchange of pleasantries, Ms Banerjee took Ms Clinton to a large portrait of Rabindranath Tagore. The meeting took place at the conference room of the State Secretariat (Writers’) from 11:05 a.m. to 11:57 a.m. – nearly 12 minutes more than the scheduled time.
Also present were the US Ambassador, Ms Nancy Powell, the US Assistant Secretary, Mr Robert Blake, and the US Consul-General, Mr Dean Thompson.
The Chief Secretary, Mr Samar Ghosh, the Home Secretary, Mr Basudev Banerjee, the Finance Minister, Mr Amit Mitra, and the Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr Gautam Sanyal, were present during the meeting.