LORD PATTEN APPOINTED TO THE UK-INDIA ROUND TABLE
(24 January 2006)

The Foreign Secretary said today the Lord Patten has been appointed as co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table, a body established by the late Robin Cook and the then Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh in April 2000 to look for ways to regenerate and strengthen the bilateral relationship.

"I am delighted that Lord Patten has accepted the post of UK Co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table. The UK-India relationship is hugely important, and the Round Table is a crucible for innovative thinking about how we should make the most of our ever closer relations. Chris Patten is a major figure in world affairs. Having him on board is a further boost for the UK-India strategic partnership.

"I am delighted also to announce the appointment of a new UK team to work with Chris Patten as UK members of the Round Table. With such a strong UK side, and given the equally impressive Indian team, I look forward to reading the outcomes of what is bound to be a stimulating meeting of the Round Table in March."

The UK-India Round Table will next meet in Goa on 10-11 March 2006. This will be the 9th meeting, and Lord Patten's first as UK Co-Chair. Lord Patten replaces Lord Paul, who stepped down in April 2005. The appointment is honorary and will take effect immediately.

The new UK team for the Round Table is:

• Chairman - The Rt. Hon Lord Patten of Barnes

  Members

• Karan Bilimoria, Chief Executive, Cobra Beer, Chairman, Indo-British Partnership Network
• Dame Sandra Dawson, Director, Judge Business School, Master, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
• Malcolm Chalmers, Special Adviser to the Foreign Secretary
• Richard Lambert *, Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England
• Sir Tim Lankester *, President, Corpus Christi College, Oxford
• Dr Tidu Maini, Pro Rector, Development & Corporate Affairs, Imperial College London
• Nick Pearce, Director, Institute for Public Policy Research
• Bryan Sanderson, Chairman, BUPA, Chairman, Standard Chartered Group
• Jon Snow *, Head of Channel 4 News
• Sir Mark Tully *, Broadcaster & Author
• Ms Patience Wheatcroft *, Business Editor, The Times
• Sir Rob Young *, (Former High Commissioner in Delhi), Secretary/Rapporteur
• Melville Guest *

* = reappointed

Members will serve for a three year term of office, when the appointments will be reviewed.

The current Indian side is :

• Shri M.H. Ansari - Co-Chairman
• Dr. Ashok S. Ganguly, Chairman, ICI CI OneSource Limited
• Shri Uday S. Kotak, Exec. Vice-Chairman & MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
• Shri Hemendra M. Kothari, Chairman, DSP Merrill Lynch Limited
• Dr. Obaid Siddiqi
• Mrs. Margaret Alva, Honorary Advisor to the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training
• Shri Shyam Benegal, Film Director
• Dr Shankar Acharya, Honorary Professor and Member, Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
• Ms. Anu Aga, Director, Thermax Limited
• Mrs. Maria Couto, Author
• Shri M Malhotra, Secretary General, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
• Shri Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, Confederation of Indian Industry
• Shri Harpal Singh, Chairman & MD, Fortis Healthcare Limited
• Dr. Deepak Nayyar, Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University
• Dr. Nitin Desai, Special Advisor for World Summit on Information Society and former Under Secretary General, United Nations
• Shri Vinod Mehta, Editor, Outlook
• Dr. Ashok Khosla, President, Development Alternatives Group
• Secretary/Rapporteur - Sujatha Singh, Joint -Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs

The UK-India Round Table was established by the late Robin Cook and the then Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh in April 2000 to look for ways to regenerate and strengthen the bilateral relationship. It is not a decision making body. It is intended to offer a civil society forum outside the normal government to government channels. It has allowed both sides to build up trust and branch out into more sensitive areas of the bilateral relationship. HMG and the Government of India (GoI) hold observer status at the annual meetings. Membership consists of about 30 people, drawn equally from India and the UK, and includes inter alia academics, officials, businessmen and journalists

The Round Table meets annually, alternately in India and the UK. It has now met eight times. The last meeting took place at Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire on 6/7 February 2005 with an agenda focussed on elements of the Prime Ministers' Initiative, set out in a Joint Declaration issued on 20 September 2004 by Tony Blair and Manmohan Singh.

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