UK minister on India visit to boost creative industry ties

The UK's minister of state for trade and export promotion Baroness Rona Fairhead today embarked on a three-day tour of India to boost creative industry ties between the two countries.
Fairhead is setto launch the first India-UK Createch Summit in Mumbai tomorrow, which will bring together around 1,000 leading figures from across business and government to celebrate innovation such as augmented reality and creative robotics within the creative and technology industries.
"There is just so much potential in India and for our two countries to work together. It is particularly important, as we leave the EU that we strengthen our trading relationships with partners outside the bloc," she said.

Describing the UK as a world leader in creative and technology industries, she added: "The opportunities for growth are plenty, and as an international economic department we will continue to use trade missions not only to boost UK exports, but also to help businesses of all sizes forge ties and build relationships with potential buyers and investors.
In Mumbai, the minister in the UK's Department for International Trade (DIT) will also help launch a new VisitBritain campaign, "I Travel For", to further boost tourismbetween the two countries.
According to official figures, there were a record 436,000 visits from India to the UK from January to September 2017, up 32 per cent compared to the same period in 2016, and these visitors spent 355 million pounds in Britain during the same period, up 7 per cent compared to 2016.

"India is a fast-growing outbound visitor market and extremely important for VisitBritain. By promoting wonderfully unexpected experiences, alongside our globally renowned and iconic cultural landmarks and attractions, we want to inspire even more visitors from India to book a trip to Britain right now, said VisitBritain CEO Sally Balcombe.
During her India visit, Fairhead will present the annual DIT Tech Rocketship Awards, which were established four years ago to connect the brightest of India's tech start-ups and scale-ups to both UK and Indian investors, encouraging them to internationalise their businesses via the UK.
She will also visit Bengaluru to meet with a series of potential investors and future export partners for the UK, such as Bengaluru International Airport and Technicolor.