|
Indo-Asian News Service,
London, June 20, 2008 (IANS)
The
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will bring
a business delegation to Birmingham every year,
the leader of the city's council said. Mike Whitby
said the assurance had been made during a meeting
this week with a high-profile CII delegation led
by the group's director general Chandrajit Banerjee,
who wants increased trade between India and the
Midlands region of England.
The region is home to 90
percent of the Indian-origin population in Britain,
Liam Byrne, the minister responsible for the region,
told a CII meeting in London Thursday. The Midlands
is also where the Tata-acquired Jaguar and Land
Rover cars have major production facilities.
Whitby said the council was
"delighted" that the CII delegation,
which also included chief mentor Tarun Das and
vice president Venu Srinivasan, "made a specific
commitment to bring a high level delegation back
to Birmingham to further develop our growing relationship
on an annual basis."
He said the council will
be creating a dedicated India desk to cement relations
both with the CII and business generally. "The
Confederation of Indian Industry is one of the
most prestigious business organisations in the
world, and this is the first time they have ever
expanded their London-based CEO conference to
visit another city.
"To be told that this
will be the first of a series of annual meetings
is an excellent endorsement of the significance
of Birmingham on the global stage," he said.
Whitby said Birmingham is
"culturally diverse, with many of our population
having strong ties to India. I firmly believe
these existing cultural links will be a tremendous
asset when building our relationships with Indian
Industry."
The CII delegation also met
with local business representatives for discussions
focused on manufacturing and service industries.
Top |