The UK will bring its biggest ever delegation to Bengal Global Business Summit 2022: British Dy HC

A 49-strong delegation of senior figures from a wide range of businesses, institutions and universities will represent the United Kingdom at BGBS in Kolkata on 20-21 April 2022.   

The UK, in collaboration with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will facilitate B2B (Business-to-Business) meetings during the summit. These discussions will enable participants to identify opportunities for future collaboration, research and innovation, and facilitate the expansion of trade and investment.

Nick Low, British Deputy High Commissioner to Kolkata, said, “The 2030 Roadmap agreed by our Prime Ministers in May last year promised to transform trade and investment between the UK and India.  That’s what we’re here to do. I want to increase the United Kingdom’s portfolio of investments and partnerships in West Bengal, which already provides around thirty thousand jobs in Kolkata alone."

" There is strong interest from UK companies looking to expand existing investments here and from others who are new to India.  As the splendid Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town and the magnificent Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan show, Bengal means business.  So does Global Britain.”

Education, arts and culture / creative economy is another vital aspect of the UK spectrum for BGBS. There will be a major thrust on education, research, creative economy and sustainable tourism during these two-day engagements.

The Bengal-Britain cultural partnership is rich in history and, with BGBS, we hope to build on this foundation for future growth and innovation through creative collaboration, trade and insights on public private partnership, he said.

Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director East and Northeast India, British Council said: “West Bengal has an enviable pool of education and research talent. From the British Council we are delighted to contribute to West Bengal’s global thinking on education through BGBS.  We are supporting the public private partnerships on education, creative economy and sustainable tourism with ideas and expertise from the UK."

"We have several top UK universities taking part in BGBS deliberations which will create opportunities for young people from both Bengal and Britain and build on existing research partnerships between higher education institutions. We are supporting the strengthening of sustainable tourism and creative economy - all of which create huge number of jobs - and align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. We hope that at BGBS 2022 we the start scripting a new Bengal-Britain story that will drive the 21st century economy,” he said. 

British Council will organise a creative economy Round Table on 21 to 22 April, soon after the conclusion of BGBS and will look at regeneration of Public

Private partnerships along with discussion on possible partnerships and capacity building in built heritage conservation, festivals and crafts.

"We are expecting participation from West Bengal stakeholders representing the private / social enterprise sector and other cultural heritage sectors," he said.