This is the fifth bi-weekly bulletin for the period from August 31 to September 14, 2023.

(1) September 11, 2023- CM Attendance at G20 Summit Dinner

Several Chief Ministers from different states, including leaders from the opposition parties, were found attending the G20 Summit dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu. Tamil Nadu’s CM MK Stalin, Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren were present at the dinner to interact with world leaders at the gala. Many other CMs like Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala and Siddaramaiah of Karnataka decided not to participate in the September 9, 2023 dinner. 

(2) September 12, 2023- Mamata Banerjeeforeign visits

The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee embarked on a 12-day visit to Dubai and Spain. The visit is meant to attract foreign investment to her state and comes ahead of the 7th Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) which will be held on 21-22 November in Kolkata. She told reporters that:

“We will stay in Madrid for three days, during which we will attend a business summit and meet non-resident Bengalis. From there, we will take a train to Barcelona, where we will participate in a two-day meeting for the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS).”

Spain was the theme country of the 46th Kolkata International Book Fair (KIBF) held earlier this year, and the country has invited organisers of the KIBF to participate in the Liber Book Fair in Madrid in 2025. According to the Trinamool Spokesperson:

“A delegation of various noted football clubs from Kolkata will be travelling to Spain with the Chief Minister, as will Sourav Ganguly, former Indian cricket captain, who will also be there in Madrid at that time.”

The last leg of her journey would be in Dubai where she will attend business summits. The focus here would be not only on attracting investments but also on fostering bilateral relations.