"It is time that India takes its place very seriously in the global economy. India has a very important role to play, being one of the biggest and fastest growing economies of the world", urged Rt. Hon. Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, United Kingdom at the interaction organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and UK India Business Council (UKIBC) in Mumbai. Lord Mandelson was accompanied by a high level delegation from UKIBC.
While condemning the cowardice of the persons responsible for the Mumbai attacks, Lord Mandelson expressed the support of the Government of the United Kingdom in maintaining pressure to bring the persons responsible to justice.
In his address, Lord Mandelson stressed on the requirement of both India and UK to work closer and explore opportunities in the international arena. "India and UK are doing more business with each other than before and are emerging as strong solid partners with varied ideas, skills and expertise. There is thus a need to explore further opportunities in doing business together", advocated Lord Mandelson. Being the first forum where he had addressed India, Lord Mandelson commended the continuous efforts of CII in working closely with the British community towards making the relationship between India and UK stronger.
He pointed out that the impact of economic slowdown was being felt globally with no nation being immune to it. "Worst possible conclusion of this economic situation would be going slow. I urge the Indian government to continue its pursuit of reforms and liberalization. To move away from its path of steady liberalization economic prosperity and wealth would lead to disaster". He thus impressed upon the audience the need for the Indian government to take active measures to stimulate the Indian economy.
Regarding the bilateral relationship between India and UK at a crucial juncture, Mr Banmali Agrawala, Chairman, CII Western Region & Executive Director- Strategy & Business Development, The Tata Power Company Limited mentioned in his welcome address that India’s multifaceted trade relation with UK had changed over the years with India becoming the fourth largest trading partner and Indian companies being second largest in number only after US. "While major UK investors in India include Vodafone, Cairne Energy, Standard Chartered Bank, British Gas, Unilever, some prominent Indian investors in UK include Tata, HCL, Infosys, Wipro and others. There is tremendous scope for the growth of trade and investment partnership between India and UK", concluded Mr Agrawala.