For the first time, Kolkata will be linked directly to China as Eastern China Airline starts operating flights between the West Bengal capital and Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province.

“Every year a lot of people from eastern India visit China, either for business or for travel. That has necessitated the inauguration of direct flights between Kolkata and Kunming,” Mao Siwei, the first Consul General of China to Kolkata, told The Indian Express.

The much-awaited Chinese Consulate at Kolkata is going to open at the end of this year and Siwei is currently looking for office space. Staying at a hotel for the time being, Siwei said Kolkata has always been a hub for Chinese people. “It is the only city in India which has a sizeable Chinese population staying in ‘China Town’. You won’t find another China Town in any other city of this country,” he said.

Siwei himself is an old India hand, having worked in Chinese missions in New Delhi and Islamabad in the ’90s. He was also a Visiting Scholar at Delhi’s JNU between 1993 and 1998.

Trade is at the back of the mind of both governments and the direct flight is another step in that direction. Last year, the volume of trade between India and China stood at Rs 78,400 crore. Siwei expects it to rise once the Kolkata mission starts functioning.

Siwei said that’s the message he got from Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as well. “He told me that he wanted large-scale investment in West Bengal. I told him our government agreed with that.”

While Chinese firm Dong Fang is already helping build the 600 MW Santaldihi project at Murshidabad, the prospect of more trade has increased since the opening of the Nathu La border pass in Sikkim.

It was during the three-day visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India last year that it was agreed that China would set up its second consular office after Mumbai in Kolkata. India at the same time will open its consular office at Guangzhou.

Before the Consulate plan too, Kolkata and Beijing were exploring trade opportunities. In November 2005, West Bengal Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen went to China at the invitation of the China Economic Cooperation Center. The 20 frontline industrialists from the state who were part of the delegation were hosted by several high-ranking officials during their visit.