Malaysia expresses interest to invest in West Bengal

Malaysia today expressed keen interest for investing in West Bengal under various sectors to strengthen its bilateral ties with India.
After meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a 10-member high-level official delegation led by Malaysian High Commissioner to India Datuk Naimun Ashakli Bin Mohammad told reporters that their interest grew after the presentation by the state government at Singapore recently, where they were also present.
"We are impressed about West Bengal. We have discussed a number of issues including the trades and tourism for investment in West Bengal during our meeting with the chief minister," he said.
"Key issues in which we have shown our special interest included infrastructure, manufacturing, tourism, roads and highways, mono-rail, social and cultural exchange programmes and housing," he said.

State Finance and Industry Minister Amit Mitra, who was also present in the meeting, said the Malaysian delegation would have a second round of discussion with the state government officials led by Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra during third week next month.
Besides inviting a delegation from West Bengal to visit Malaysia, Mohammad said they would participate the state's two-day industrial summit from January 7.
"Scomi Rail of Malaysia is a leading provider of urban transit systems and already developing monorail system in Mumbai. The company is now keen on working on such a project in Kolkata," the minister said.
Besides, works of nearly 3,000 km of highways are in the pipeline in the state, which could be undertaken on BOT basis with a Malaysian company, Mitra said.