The Consul General of France in Kolkata, Virginie Corteval, made a day-long visit to Chandannagar, a former French colony, as part of an effort to shape the people-to-people contact between France and Bengal.
As a tourist, she had visited the town, 35 km from here, about 20 years ago.
In a statement issued Sunday, Corteval said she took great pride in announcing that "we are formalising our relationship and institutionalising our partnership, working as collaborators between the government, private sector and civil society."
She thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her commitment to develop "river tourism along the river Hooghly."