'Visit will help boost trade ties'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 14. Relations between Britain and India are at their peak and the forthcoming visit of the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, will heighten the relationship which will then have its positive fallout on trade and investment, says Lord Swraj Paul.

Lord Paul is travelling with Mr. Cook for the inaugural of the Indo-British Roundtable. A group of about 10 persons from each side will go into all aspects of the bilateral relationship. That meeting, being held early next week, will be the start of a process taking place every six months or so. Lord Paul said the meeting would address as many items as possible. The bottom line is using the good relationship and turning it into something ``sounder.''

As the ``global'' Ambassador for British business, Lord Paul talked on a range of subjects, mostly the future of trade and investment, to a small group of journalists here on Thursday. He spoke not merely about the potential of Europe and Britain but also on the prospects of what the United States, the United Kingdom and India could do together.

``The United States and the United Kingdom are going to have skill shortages. This is where the three countries (India and its specialisation in Information Technology) can give the lead to the world'', Lord Paul said. The chairman of the Caparo Group, which has an annual turnover of about $800 million pointed out that Britain had seen the contribution of Non-resident Indians. The GNP of the 18 million Indians living abroad was the same as that of India and it was growing faster than the country's.

``These are the people we want to attract. We want them to look at Europe, and here it will be Britain.'' On skill shortages in Britain, Lord Paul adverted to temporary H-1B visas given by the U.S. and said Britain and Germany were looking at the issue as they did not want to be left behind. For the last three years the British Prime Minister, Mr.Tony Blair and the Labour Government had been stressing that progress would be hampered unless there was a realisation that society was for all.

Lord Paul also noted a definite change taking place in India in the context of economic reforms. There seemed to be an acknowledgement that there was not much use just talking about reforms; India was trying to become a full player; that it could not be left behind and realised the value of being a global player.

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Section  : International
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