This time, the delegation returned with a larger team of 25 members and met officials of the state Commerce and Industries department. It includes representatives of the World Trade Center Association (WTCA), Los Angeles-Long Beach; the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and bureaucrats from the city of Long Beach.

“They want to check out investment possibilities in the state. They have diverse business interests,” said managing director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation M V Rao.

“We met Port authorities here and the meeting was very encouraging. We have with us the chairman of the Long Beach Port and would like to share our green port standards and our technical expertise,” said Suja Lowenthal, a council member of the city of Long Beach. The team, which also has members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, met officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Kolkata.

“Ten US delegates met us today and expressed interest in investing in the development of infrastructure, which is part of the modernization plans of the Kolkata airport. The modalities are yet to be worked out but we told them about our needs,” said AAI regional executive director P K Singhal.

Even the Airports Authority of India Employees’ Union (AAEU), which had been protesting the modernization of airports across the country by private players, said that it had “no reservations” against the “use of American companies or technology” for the modernization of Dum Dum airport.

“We do not have any problems if the design for the new buildings come from American companies, as long as the modernization process remains in the domain of AAI,” said M K Ghoshal, AAEU general secretary, instrumental in the strikes at the airport over the issue of modernization.

... contd.