Ficci feels West Bengal can be globalisation hub

West Bengal can become the country's 'globalisation hub'.

Talking at an interactive session on ' Globalisation : Threats Opportunity For West Bengal', Dr Amit Mitra, Ficci secretary general said events like FTA with Thailand and Asean, Bangkok agreement and several similar activities would promote foreign trade. The state is in a 'strategic locational advantage' to head the country in such deals.

In view of the immense potential inherent in the state in terms of resources, human capital, intellect, there was no reason why the state should not come up to be the country's knowledge hub.

Its access to the Bay of Bengal, improving port conditions, close proximity to the eastern neighbours should convert the state into a transport corridor to Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and the entire north eastern region, he said.

With a huge water resource and river channels of 4741 km, the state has immense potential to excel in agro-processing industry. Its climatic and geographic features were suited for developing horticulture, floriculture and marine food production .

The state yet to realise its immense potential in knowledge based industry like chemical, pharmaceuticals biotechnology , drug development and IT, Mitra pointed out.

Bengal was the only state with both mountains and beaches. Tourism should be developed as a thrust area in today's era of globalisation.

A strong master plan should immediately be chalked out as it will not only earn investment but would contribute to several area as civil aviation and infrastructure , Mitra pointed out. The other two thrust areas were finance and education, where the state has the potential to come up as the leader, said Mitra.

Though the state has put up a good performance in terms of SDP, per capita income , investment but the major draw back has been 'industrial disputes. Mitra identified this to be the major threat to the state's future. Bengal contributed to around 54 per cent of the mandays lost in the country , said Mitra.