Visitors at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. India is the partner country in the 2006 edition of the trade fair

Calcutta and Germany go back a long way.

The first communication link between the city and London was established by a German firm, when Siemens laid the telegraph line to link the two cities in 1867.

The first Indian branch of a German bank opened in Calcutta in 1896, and the oldest bipartite (now bi-national) chamber of commerce in Calcutta also happens to be the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC).

Established in Bombay (now Mumbai) on January 20, 1956, following a year of parleys in both the countries with then German vice-chancellor Franz Bluecher flying down for the inauguration, the chamber celebrates its golden jubilee this year. The Calcutta office of IGCC, which followed in 1959, is very much at the heart of the year-long celebrations and is keen to reach out with a ?pro-active? punch.

?Francis Klein & Co Pvt Ltd of Calcutta was one of the founder-members of the IGCC, which underlines the city?s significance in Indo-German trade ties. We would like to assume the role of a nodal agency and aggressively package our core strengths, like IT and steel to explore new opportunities,? B.G. Roy, regional director, IGCC, Calcutta, tells Metro.

The city chapter has planned a sit-down dinner for members who have stayed with the chamber for the past 25 years, besides a golf tournament ?to coincide with Lufthansa?s inaugural flight out of Calcutta, maybe in October?.

The concluding session with the governor as chief guest will be held in December.

To mark the golden jubilee year, IGCC will launch new packages for its various services, including finding business partners, facilitating technology transfer, assistance in company formation on a turnkey basis, creating and maintaining contact with German and Indian associations and authorities?

The chamber will also assist in participation in German and Indian trade fairs, organising high-profile German and Indian business delegations, besides seminars, workshops, buyer-seller meets and catalogue shows.

Legal assistance, providing access to German state-of-the-art environmental technology and biotechnology, cooperation in R&D activities, translation and interpretation services are the other thrust areas.

Even prior to IGCC, the first German trade representation was set up in Mumbai and Calcutta in 1844, with the opening of consular offices by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The consulate of Hanover followed suit in Calcutta in 1855. However, the evolution of bilateral ties is characterised more by cultural links.

How Goethe praised the Sanskrit play Shakuntala, how Schopenhauer admired the Upanishads, how Max Mueller was called ?Moksha Moola? and Paul Deussen called ?Devasena? by Indian admirers, still fascinate this city, which never tires of soaking foreign culture clips.

?Arts and culture have been a strong binding force and the chamber will always try to leverage this bond to further trade ties,? stresses Roy.