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.