Chinese consulate Kolkata holds China-India B2B meeting

The Consulate General of the People's Republic of China, in cooperation with West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), held a B2B meeting and an MOU signing ceremony in Kolkata, India on 5 April 2017 for the visiting government and business delegation from Shandong Province, China.

Mr. Zhanwu Ma, the Chinese Consul General, Mr. Wang Junmin, Deputy Head of the Agricultural Work Leading Group of the CPC Shandong Committee, Mr. Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary of the Agriculture Department of the State Government of West Bengal, Ms. Nandini Chakraborty, Secretary with the Department of Food-processing Industries and Horticulture of the State Government, Mr. Surendra Gupta, Managing Director of WBIDC, Mr. Rudra Chatterjee, Vice President of ICC, Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General of ICC and many other officials from the two sides were present at the function.

During the B2B discussions, the representatives from the 15 Chinese companies had intensive dialogues with entrepreneurs from 80 Indian companies that came to attend the meeting, and became fascinated with the huge potentials for cooperation in the agriculture-related fields between China and India, especially between West Bengal and Shandong. Towards the end of the 2-hour discussion, 18 companies from the two sides reached agreement on conducting future cooperation on such projects as regarding agri-machinery, fertilizers, fruit and vegetable processing, eggs and poultry, technology transfer and so on, which would bring billions of dollars of transactions and investment in Bengal by Chinese companies. And 5 pairs of the Chinese and Indian companies were selected to sign MOUs in the ensuing ceremony.

Consul General Ma Zhanwu spoke on the occasion and congratulated the companies that had found partners for cooperation at the B2B meeting. He went on to say that the achievements made at the discussions between the Chinese and Indian companies once again showed that there are a lot of common interests between the two great nations, which far outweigh their differences, and the two countries should strive to strengthen their mutually beneficial cooperation and work together for a better future for the two nations and the whole world at large. He also stressed that there exist huge potentials for cooperation in the agriculture-related fields between China and India, and between Bengal and Shandong in particular. He hoped the two sides would take follow-up steps to advance their exchanges and conduct more collaboration. He expressed his appreciation to ICC, WBIDC as well as the government offices in Shandong and the State Government of West Bengal for their assistance in and efficient work on preparing for the B2B meeting.

Mr. Wang Junmin and Mr. Sanjeev Chopra also spoke highly of the results achieved at the B2B meeting and congratulated the companies which had reached agreement at the consultations. They both expressed the wish to have further exchanges between Shandong and Bengal in the coming months and years. They also thanked ICC, WBIDC and the Chinese Consulate for holding the B2B session.

Previously in the day, the Shandong delegation led by Mr. Wang Junmin met with the West Bengal delegation led by Mr. Sanjeev Chopra, had talks on how to move forward their economic relations, and signed a joint statement on their discussions.

The other Chinese officials present at the above functions included Mr. Xue Qingguo, Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Provincial People's Government of Shandong (PPGS), Mr. Wang Jinbao, Director General of the Agriculture Department of PPGS, Mr. Yan Zhaowan, Director General of the Commerce Department of PPGS.

Editor: Eric Wang