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Indo-UK trade meet on July 7

An Indo-British meet has been organised in London on July 7 to strengthen business relationships between the two countries and bring in more Non-Resident India, or NRI, investments into India.

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, UK's Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) Keith Vaz, British High Commissioner to India Sir Rob Young, and Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Nareshwar Dayal, will address the meet.

A 40-member strong delegation from India will attend the London meet. The team includes former CBI director Joginder Singh and Infosys Tech chief N R Narayana Murthy, who is also the chairman of Indian side of Indo-British Partnership.

According to Jagmohan Singh, director of NRI Institute, which is organising the meet, more than 400 delegates will attend the function. Emphasis will be on knowledge-based industries.

As a result of a number of initiatives, in particular the Indo-British Partnership, or IBP, trade between India and the UK is soaring. Annual bilateral trade is now about four billion pounds. After the United States, the UK is India's largest trading partner with 6 per cent of India's total foreign trade.

Sir Rob is of the view that despite the progress achieved there is still a need to look at new ways to boost trade. A number of new initiatives have been launched particularly those to forge cluster relations between the two countries in knowledge-based industries. British exports to India have increased by about 16 per cent in 1999 over the previous year. Of the 100 British firms that have invested in Bangalore alone, a vast majority of them were in the information technology sector.

A significant feature of the meet is that Anthony Giddens will be honoured at the event. Giddens is attached to the London School of Economics and Political Science and is professor of sociology at Cambridge. His ideas have profoundly influenced the writing and teaching of sociology and social theory around the world.

UNI

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