The tier II cities’ story continues to thrive. The British government sees them as ‘lands’ of opportunities. Britain is keen on getting investors from Britain to look at tier II cities in the Karnataka and facilitate this has opened a British Deputy Commission in Bangalore.
The new centre would cover a whole range of British government activity in the State, including business, trade and investment and science and technology, British Deputy High Commissioner here, Richard Hyde, said. The deputy high commission will not issue visas, but will only facilitate relationships in science, BT and technology.
Hyde said the British High Commission has had a presence here for 15 years, establishing the British Trade Office in 1994 and developing a strong commercial relationship.
As part of the efforts to understand the tier II cities in the state, UK deputy high commissioner Richard Hyde has visited the smaller cities like Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum among other cities to understand them and check out the investor-friendliness of the cities. The huge number of engineers produced in the state is a big draw, said an official from the high commission.
Meanwhile, officials from the high commission said that the Indo-UK bilateral trade which was around Pound 10 billion in 2008, may see a decline this year, because of the global slowdown. Hyde said, “It’s been a difficult year. In the present market environment, anything is an achievement. But we want to increase the trade,” Hyde said.