Queen’s Birthday Party 2016 celebrated in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad

For the first time in Gujarat, the British Deputy High Commission in Ahmedabad on Wednesday hosted a reception to mark the birthday of Queen Elizabeth. This was an opportunity to celebrate not only the Queen’s 90th birthday but also the very close links between the United Kingdom and the vibrant State of Gujarat.

Speaking at the reception, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Gujarat, Mr Geoff Wain, said that having had a Trade Office in Ahmedabad since 1999, the British Government recently decided to upgrade that office to a full Deputy High Commission. From March 2015, the UK is proud to be the first and only country to have full diplomatic representation in Gujarat. This reflects Gujarat’s status as one the most important states in India, politically, economically and – with over 600,000 people in the UK of Gujarati origin – socially and culturally.

The UK now has 8 offices in India – in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Bengaluru. It employs more than 1600 people and is the biggest UK network in any country anywhere in the world – bigger even than in the US or China. Mr Wain said that this reflected the close historical ties between the two countries, the shared values of democracy, respect for the rule of law, tolerance and pluralism, and the close collaboration in areas as diverse as education and research, energy security and climate change and security and defence.

Mr Wain continued that the United Kingdom and India are unique, indispensible partners, contributing greatly to each other’s growth and prosperity. The UK is the largest G20 investor in India, in other words the biggest ‘Maker in India’. Likewise, Indian companies made the third largest number of foreign investments into the UK last year and India invests more in the UK than in all other EU countries combined.
The UK’s total goods and services trade with India in 2014 was £19 billion. In the last 15 years, UK investment in India accounted for 9% of all FDI, amounting to some £33bn. UK FDI generated around 138,000 direct jobs in India. UK companies are creating one in every 20 jobs in India’s organised private sector and currently employ around 700,000 people across India. In the last year alone, FDI from the UK into India stood at nearly £3bn.

In terms of Indian investment into the UK, ICT, Advanced Engineering and Life Sciences are among our priority sectors. Tata is now the largest manufacturing employer in the UK with a workforce of 45,000 employees. In 2014-2015 Indian investments in 122 FDI projects created 8,000 new jobs and the total number of people in the UK employed by Indian companies is now over 110,000. Of the 1200 Indian companies with offices in the EU, 800 are located in the UK.

The British Deputy High Commission in Ahmedabad will continue to expand in future to develop the wider bilateral relationship, broadening the British Government’s knowledge of Gujarati politics, economics and culture. In doing so, it will raise Gujarat’s profile in the UK and, in turn, the UK’s profile in this important State. One of its key priorities in Gujarat is to increase bilateral trade and investment in areas such energy, education, health, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

Recently, British PM David Cameron hailed ‘Team UK and Team India as ‘a winning combination’ and India and the UK are, in Prime Minister Modi’s own words, ‘an unbeatable combination’. During the Prime Minister’s recent visit to the UK, more than £9 billion in commercial deals, spanning a wide range of sectors including insurance services, finance, healthcare, energy and information technology, were agreed.

The reception also provided an opportunity to reflect on the recent and very successful visit of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to India and to mark future events to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.

– DeshGujarat