Slovakia Officially Opens New Honorary Consulate in Kolkata

Kolkata, March 20 (TASR-correspondent) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) on Thursday officially opened a honorary consulate in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), whose Honorary Consul is Vivek Lohia, TASR learnt from its special correspondent in India on Thursday. Lohia is the managing director of a company called Jupiter Wagons Limited (JWL), which cooperates with Slovakia's railway carriage producer Tatravagonka Poprad. "We want to expand our business and investments to the whole of India, because the space here is huge, not only around the capital Delhi," said Blanar, adding that West Bengal, where Kolkata is located, is a gateway for investors to the whole of India. This is mainly due to the best-developed infrastructure in the country, which plays an important role in terms of logistics. Honorary Consul Vivek Lohia stated that he expects significant growth in cooperation between Slovakia and India in the coming years. "As you know, we've had a very strong partnership with Tatravagonka for more than a decade, and, as we've announced, we're investing almost €500 million along with them. We're setting up a new manufacturing plant in India as well as in Europe," stated the JWL head. Slovakia currently has 171 honorary consulates around the world, including three in India - in Kolkata, Mumbai and Mangalore. am/df