Thursday, September 1 2005 18:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: After wooing Singapore and Indonesian investors, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today (Sept 1, 2005) met Chinese officials in New Delhi and assured them that their investments in the Left-ruled state would be a profitable venture.

The Chief Minister also made it clear to the potential investors that their investment should meet certain conditions like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) leading to employment generation, capacity augmentation and technology upgradation, Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) Polit Bureaumember Sitaram Yechury, who accompanied Bhattacharjee to the meeting at the Chinese Embassy in here, told sources.

During discussions with top officials, Bhattacharjee briefed them about the positive investment environment in West Bengal, which was attracting large quantum of FDI and had been in the eyes of major foreign investors.

The officials informed Bhattacharjee that several Chinese firms were interested in investing in the Left-ruled state. To this, Bhattacharjee said they were 'most welcome'.

Sources said that at least eight Chinese firms were ready to make investments in West Bengal. These included those from iron and steel as well as a large toy industry.

The CPI(M) has been maintaining that there was no difference between the approaches of the West Bengal Chief Minister and the party on FDI. The top party leadership has been saying that the conditions, put forth today by the Chief Minister, were consistent with the party line and all FDI in West Bengal adhered to these conditions.