Mamata Banerjee to visit China this month

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to visit China for the first time since she assumed office in Bengal in 2011. Banerjee’s visit was reportedly not cleared by the ministry of external affairs in last few years, however, this time the chief minister’s office has adequate clearance from the centre, said sources.

Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu on Friday confirmed that the Bengal chief minister will be travelling to Beijing and Shanghai at the end of this month. Adding that Banerjee will be visiting China on the invite extended by the Government of People’s Republic of China, Ma Zhanwu said that Bengal chief minister will be on a nine-day trip to China . She will leave for Beijing on June 22.

“Arrangements of the visit are underway. A State leader will meet her in Beijing and the Mayor of Kunming, the sister city of Kolkata will meet her in Beijing,” he said. According to sources in the government, Banerjee will meet several business chambers and groups in both the cities.


Of late, there has been an increased interaction between Beijing and the social life in eastern India. Several exchange programmes between these two regions are taking place. Early this year, Ma Zhanwu said in a programme that he was looking at 2018 to be a year of 'many high level (diplomatic ) exchanges" between the two countries and with the visits by top political leaders, his predictions appear to be true.