Juster: All praise

Calcutta, Oct. 14: What Bengal is doing today, Delhi should tomorrow ? Kenneth Juster, the under secretary of the bureau of industry and security in the US commerce department, finished his formal engagements in the city with words that must have been music to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

?I am encouraged by what I hear from the Left government here and hope that it is carried over to Delhi,? Juster said after his two-day stay here.

?The message that I got during my interactions here were very positive?I hope there is a consistency in all segments of the Left,? he added, hinting at the apparent difference in the Left stance in Calcutta and Delhi.

Juster met the chief minister, industries and commerce minister Nirupam Sen and IT minister Manab Mukherjee during his trip, billed as an indication of rising interest in a ?resurgent? Bengal. Besides talking to the Writers? Buildings bosses, he met industry captains and visited the state?s tech hub this morning to check out the ground realities.

Writers? has reasons to be happy with Juster?s observations. Echoing what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush said after their September meeting in Washington, Juster said: ?The relationship between the US and this part of the country has never been so good, and I think the best is yet to come.?

Bengal has ?enormous potential? to attract investment, especially in the field of IT, said the US official, who got a feel of the developments during his visit to the Skytech and Netguru offices in Salt Lake Electronics Complex.

?They are doing a great quality of work and the talent is impressive,? Juster said at a Confederation of Indian Industry meet later in the day.

He also rolled out his recipe to ?unlock? the potential. ?It will require communication. Probably, people don?t know opportunities exist here. There should be interaction and frequent visits of delegations?,? he said, and promised to spread the message on the recent changes and the opportunities here.

But any investment decision, he reminded, is taken by the private sector, which wants ?hospitable environment? before putting its money. Better infrastructure, good policy framework, protection of intellectual property rights and lower barriers to trade found place in his list of essentials for a ?hospitable environment?.

From IT to agro-based industry and the manufacturing sector to bio-tech industry ? the day saw an entire gamut being discussed while identifying areas for mutual co-operation in trade and industry.