The Director General of International Trade and Investment, Department for International Trade, Dr. Catherine Raines, visited India from August 21 to August 23.
The aim of the visit was to underline the United Kingdom's continued commitment to improve trade, investment and economic collaboration with India. She visited New Delhi and Kochi.
While in New Delhi, she met the Managing Director and CEO of Invest India, Mr Deepak Bagla and Vice President, Ms. Payal Koul Mirakhur, to discuss how the UK and India can partner most effectively, and how the UK's companies can contribute to and support the 'Make in India' campaign.
Director General Raines also met representatives of India's tech giants such HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Genpact, significant investors in the UK.
During the final part of her Delhi visit Dr. Raines interacted with the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) to discuss the best ways to identify and build new trade partnerships and investment opportunities between the two countries.
In Kochi, Dr. Raines launched Innovate 2020, a new platform to help start-ups from Kerala to bring new products and services to market, under a new initiative being run by fast-growing UK-headquartered tech company Kloudpad.
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The platform will encourage technology, engineering and electronics entrepreneurs from South India to join their billion pound growth vision for 2020, focusing on technologies from wireless and embedded engineering to cognitive software.
Cloudsys Analytical Labs' will run the Innovate 2020 programme, providing companies with advice on product development, as well as access to the right funding and global commercial opportunities. Cloudys will also showcase new technologies specifically designed for smart cities solutions, such as healthcare automation devices, facial recognition software, smart meters and intelligent character recognition, amongst others.
In Kerala, Dr.Raines visited British businesses present in the region and Indian companies with investments in the UK.
Dr Catherine Raines is Director General of International Trade and Investment, the government's global organisation that delivers advice, support, advocacy and promotion to facilitate UK trade and investment worldwide. She was appointed to her role (which was previously known as Chief Executive of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI)) on 7 September 2015.
She was previously Minister and Director-General, UKTI China, a position she held since April 2013, after a 25 year career in both the public and private sectors.
In this role she led an organisational transformation that saw UK Business outcomes grow 10-fold (from c. £300 million pa to almost £3.7 billion pa) in two years.
Catherine has FTSE 10 experience spanning more than 20 years, including previous periods spent living and working in the UK, USA, Sweden and China. Her early experience was in international production and programme management; later moving into global, corporate leadership roles.
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