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West Bengal News
Singapore Chamber signs trade promotion agreement with BNCCI
22 December 2005
Kolkata: Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the century old Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) here to promote bilateral trade and business relations at the state level besides exploring further opportunities.
SICCI chairman and a legal luminary in Singapore M Rajaram signed the agreement for his country,while BNCCI chairperson Nayantara Pal Chowdhury did it on behalf of the Chamber on the second day of the week long International Industrial Trade Fair, which began here yesterday.
Speaking to newsmen about the scope of furthering bilateral trade both at the national and state levels with his island nation,Mr Rajaram said with the possibilities of a number of major joint ventures coming up, the volume of trade between India and Singapore was poised to touch a record ten billion dollar mark by 2007 from around 5.5 billion dollars, ensuring a quantum jump on both ways.
Among the major initiatives in West Bengal,the SICCI Chairman quoting yesterday’s observation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee said, a Singaporean multi-national had already evinced keen interest in establishing a "Japanese Language and Cultural Centre" near Kolkata soon with an investment of over two million dollars.
Among other areas of interest,he said besides the Information Technology, a large number of Singapore-based companies were interested in joint ventures in telecommunications,leather, agro processing and gems and jewellery among other sectors. A large sum of investment was also to follow soon, he emphasised.
Mr Rajaram, however, regretted about the lack of "basic awarness" among the majority of Singaporean businessmen about the scope in West Bengal and urged the state government to look into this aspect on a "top priority basis".
"SICCI is organising a week long "Mega India Show" in Singapore next April and has invited BNCCI and other chambers commerce in the state to showcase West Bengal in full scale," he said.
The SICCI chairman who is leading a 15-member trade delegation from his country, was all praise for Mr Bhattacherjee for his "professional attitude towarsds promoting business" and attracting more Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in various sectors through the joint venture route.
Earlier,the SICCI delegation participated in an interactive session with members of different industries at the Industrial fair and explored opportunities of more business through subsequent one- to-one meeting among themselves on various sectors.