David Cameron to meet Mamata Banerjee during Kolkata visit today

Cameron is the second British Prime Minister to visit Kolkata.

In what could be a great boost for Bengal economy as well as the image of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,a meeting has been fixed between her and British Prime Minister David Cameron at the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata.

According to sources,it was at the behest of the British Prime Minister that Mamata is meeting him before his departure for Colombo for the Commonwealth Head of Governments (CHOGM) meet.

The Chief Minister will be accompanied by Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra and Minister for Finance Amit Mitra during the meet where a host of issues related to India,particularly Bengals relationship with the United kingdom,is likely to crop up.

Cameron,who will be in Kolkata for a six-hour visit tomorrow,will be received at the airport by the finance minister,home secretary Basudeb Banerjee and DGP R K Reddy. Minister for commerce and industries Partha Chatterjee will see him off at the airport.

The Chief Minister is going to present the visiting dignitary with some mementos which she is working at now. It will be a prominent art object of Bengal. The CM herself is selecting it, an official of the state government told Indian Express.

The official also said that the Chief Minister will seek co-operation from the British Government in different fields,particularly infrastructure,health,industrial reconstruction,to name a few.

It was during the Left Front regime that the Department of International Development (DFID) of the British Government provided massive financial assistance to the state government for reconstruction of the states sick public sector units.

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Elaborate security measures have been taken for the British Prime Minister who will land at Kolkata airport at 2.30 in the afternoon and from there will visit All India Radio and Indian Institute of Management,Joka where he will have an interaction with students there. Top police officials have had a meeting with the Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary to work out the security details.

Cameron is the second British Prime Minister to visit Kolkata after John Major who came here 16 years back.