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Denmark keen to boost trade ties with Bengal

M Chhaya in Kolkata

Denmark has shown interest in establishing business ties with West Bengal, and is willing to grant financial aid for social development projects in the state.

Danish ambassador to India Michael Sternberg, in town for a consular golf tourney, held discussion with state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and offered financial help for health, primary education and civic sectors.

Sternberg later told newspersons that his government was willing to extend a grant-cum-loan aid to the state. "We are willing to extend financial help in the shape of 40 per cent grant and 60 per cent loan on an easy term," he said.

The envoy foresaw "adequate opportunity for business co-operation between Danish entrepreneurs and West Bengal," particularly in the areas of biotechnology, healthcare, dairy products, sewerage disposal and water treatment projects.

Already, Danish authorities have granted more than Rs 31 lakh (3.1 million) to a Ramakrishna Mission school in Asansol as part of Copenhagen's efforts to help improve education in the state.

Sternberg also held discussions with Somnath Chatterjee, chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, the state's nodal agency for industrial ventures.

Besides Denmark, West Bengal is also set to receive monetary assistance from the European Union.

EU ambassador to India Michel Caillouet also met Bhattacharya and discussed possibilities of business co-operation in the fields of information technology and healthcare.

EU has already sanctioned Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million), mostly through non-governmental organisations, for a series of healthcare projects.

Caillouet has asked Bhattacharya to constitute separate committees to prepare "concrete business proposals."

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