In a recent meeting in London between Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and CII delegation led by Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal on March 26, Indian industry sought Britains help in the areas of skill development, education, innovation management, amongst others.
The CII delegation was calling on the British Prime Minister as a follow-up to his visit to India in January 2008, accompanied by some of Britains leading CEOs.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister noted that the relationship between the two countries was very strong. He shared that the Indian Prime Minister and he had a joint vision of achieving an increase in trade, in goods and services, of 50% over the next few years. At the same time, he strongly reiterated the UKs commitment to remaining an open economy and resisting protectionism.
The Prime Minister highlighted his focus on key decisions that would shape the long term stability and growth of the economy. This included issues around energy, planning processes, transportation and infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and climate change. He also expressed a desire for speedy conclusion of multilateral trade talks over the next few months.Discussions during the meeting revolved around opportunities for greater partnership and collaboration as well as issues of trade and investment. Specific areas discussed were skills, innovation, academia-industry collaboration, SMEs, climate change, movement of natural persons and issues of productivity.
The CII delegation proposed a partnership with the UK for developing a Mission on Skills for skilling 1 million Indians who would then form part of the global talent pool. It was collectively felt that Britain has much to offer in term of capacity building in this regard.
In the area of innovation, both sides felt that there was tremendous potential in building innovation linkages. It was felt that this was a unique area where British innovation and Indian SMEs could combine to take technology to the market and thereby, build on strengths of both. Innovation linkages would also help in the area of enhancing productivity.
Both sides committed to greater engagement between British universities and Indian Industry. The CII delegation shared its current partnerships with some of UKs leading universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, Warwick and offered to act as a catalyst for this process. The CII delegation also expressed its confidence that reforms in the Indian education sector would be realized during the year and which would give a fillip to the education sector.
The other members of the CII delegation included Dr Jamshed J Irani, Director, Tata Sons Ltd; Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Past President CII and Chairman, Hero Corporate Service Ltd; Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO & Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd; Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, CII & Chairman, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd; Ms Supriya Banerji, Deputy Director General, CII and Ms Ratika Jain, Head-UK, CII.
In a recent meeting in London between Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and CII delegation led by Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal on March 26, Indian industry sought Britains help in the areas of skill development, education, innovation management, amongst others.
The CII delegation was calling on the British Prime Minister as a follow-up to his visit to India in January 2008, accompanied by some of Britains leading CEOs.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister noted that the relationship between the two countries was very strong. He shared that the Indian Prime Minister and he had a joint vision of achieving an increase in trade, in goods and services, of 50% over the next few years. At the same time, he strongly reiterated the UKs commitment to remaining an open economy and resisting protectionism.
The Prime Minister highlighted his focus on key decisions that would shape the long term stability and growth of the economy. This included issues around energy, planning processes, transportation and infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and climate change. He also expressed a desire for speedy conclusion of multilateral trade talks over the next few months.Discussions during the meeting revolved around opportunities for greater partnership and collaboration as well as issues of trade and investment. Specific areas discussed were skills, innovation, academia-industry collaboration, SMEs, climate change, movement of natural persons and issues of productivity.
The CII delegation proposed a partnership with the UK for developing a Mission on Skills for skilling 1 million Indians who would then form part of the global talent pool. It was collectively felt that Britain has much to offer in term of capacity building in this regard.
In the area of innovation, both sides felt that there was tremendous potential in building innovation linkages. It was felt that this was a unique area where British innovation and Indian SMEs could combine to take technology to the market and thereby, build on strengths of both. Innovation linkages would also help in the area of enhancing productivity.
Both sides committed to greater engagement between British universities and Indian Industry. The CII delegation shared its current partnerships with some of UKs leading universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, Warwick and offered to act as a catalyst for this process. The CII delegation also expressed its confidence that reforms in the Indian education sector would be realized during the year and which would give a fillip to the education sector.
The other members of the CII delegation included Dr Jamshed J Irani, Director, Tata Sons Ltd; Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Past President CII and Chairman, Hero Corporate Service Ltd; Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO & Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd; Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, CII & Chairman, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd; Ms Supriya Banerji, Deputy Director General, CII and Ms Ratika Jain, Head-UK, CII.
Education and Skill development is becoming a top agenda for leading Indian industry bodies.