Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Britain has endorsed India’s position that an end to cross-border terrorism is necessary to create a congenial atmosphere for a dialogue between India and Pakistan.
British PM Tony Blair said this at his village retreat in Chequer’s at a meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee on Saturday. The meeting which lasted more than an hour was held in a relaxed atmosphere.
Blair acknowledged that democracy had not returned to Pakistan even after the general elections there after Vajpayee pointed out to him that there was cause for concern over the emergence of fundamentalist forces, specially in the states bordering Afghanistan.
The possibility of making India a research hub to promote research and development and greater cooperation in small- and medium-scale enterprises was also discussed at the meeting.
The bilateral relationship between the two countries has improved considerably in recent years. Soon after the Labour Party launched a Labour Friends of India Group in September 1999, the Liberal Democratic Party followed suit and launched a similar group.
The India-UK Round Table was also launched in New Delhi in April 2000 to discuss new and innovative ways of augmenting the existing cooperation between the two countries.
The Round Table is co-chaired by K.C. Pant, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, and prominent industrialist Lord Swraj Paul.
Bilateral trade between the two countries has also moved forward. It crossed the £5 billion mark in 2001.
While the UK is India’s second largest trading partner worldwide, and the largest within the European Union, it is also the largest cumulative investor in India at £3 billion.
