India, UK to boost bilateral trade and investment flows

India and the United Kingdom have agreed to further improve the regulatory environment that impacts trade and investment flows in both countries.

At the 6th session of the Indo-UK Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) in London on Thursday, the two countries agreed on the need to improve market access for both goods and services. Both sides also reaffirmed their commitment to increase investment flows.

The JETCO session was attended by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and UK's secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, Peter Mandelson.

The UK is among India's major trading partners and bilateral trade with that country has grown to $12 billion in 2008-09.

"The massive infrastructure development programme being undertaken in India presents huge opportunities for foreign investment. India recognised the experience of the UK in infrastructure development through public private partnerships, which could be gainfully exploited for the establishment of capacity building programmes in India," Sharma said.

Besides, the two countries have identified manufacturing, innovations and green technologies as areas for increased cooperation. Both sides also agreed on the importance of bilateral investment flows in the R&D sector, and welcomed efforts to promote technology transfer and links between entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and universities.