PM to leave for UK and Finland on October 9

New Delhi, Oct 8: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who leaves here tomorrow on a six-day visit to the United Kingdom and Finland, will have bilateral talks with his British counterpart Tony Blair and other European leaders at the India-European Union (EU) Summit in Helsinki with the main focus on terrorism.

Arriving in London on October 9, Dr Singh will also address the India-UK Investment Summit on tuesday. The UK is a key partner for India in view of a large Indian community of around 1.5 million people living in the country and the two countries have close political relations.

Besides Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and other senior officials, a 70-member business delegation is also accompanying the Prime Minister.

During his one-on-one with Mr Blair, Dr Singh is expected to seek an urgent response from him on the Mumbai blasts and the joint strategy to be evolved by both the countries as UK has also been a victim of terror.

Sources said both the Prime Ministers will discuss how they can form a strategic partnership to counter such acts of terror.

Security and other economic collaborations apart, the civilian nuclear energy cooperation with the US is also expected to come up during the talks.

The two Prime Ministers have met four times since May 2004 when the Joint Declaration establishing a Strategic Partnership was adopted. There are several bilateral mechanisms for close strategic and economic dialogue.

Following the adoption of the Strategic Partnership in September 2004, several important developments have taken place including creation of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee and the initiation of an economic and financial dialogue.

There has been an extensive exchange of high level visits over the past few years.

On October 11, the Prime Minister will travel to Cambridge where he will be conferred an honorary degree by the University.

He will also address the Indian community at a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner.

In the Finnish capital Helsinki, the Prime Minister will have a busy schedule from October 11 to 14. Immediately after reaching Helsinki, Dr Singh will have bilateral talks with his counterpart Matti Vanhanen and terrorism will be on top of the agenda. On October 13, the Prime Minister will address the seventh India- EU Summit where he is expected to give a thrust on the economic relations the country was enjoying with EU countries.

Considering that the EU is India's largest trading partner, the EU-India trade has been growing steadily, reaching 40 billion euros in 2005. India is the 14th largest exporter to the EU and had a share of 1.6 per cent in the total EU imports. On the other hand, India is the 11th largest importer of the EU's products and had a share of two per cent in the EU's global exports. Also, EU is one of the largest sources of FDI for India. The total FDI inflows from EU to India are eight billion dollars and India's FDI inflows into the EU were 600 million Euros.

The last India- EU Summit, held in New Delhi in 2005, endorsed a Joint Action Plan for strengthening the dialogue and consultation mechanism. The Prime Minister is likely to review this mechanism and form strategies to take it forward.

Bilateral relations between India and Finaland have traditionally been warm and friendly. During the visit, Dr Singh will also discuss India- Finnish bilateral trade and also opportunities in various sectors including IT and tourism.

Finnair has announed that they would commence thrice weekly direct flights to India from October 30.

Finnish companies have shown increasing interest in investing in India. Presently there are about 30 Finnish joint ventures and other 70 Finnish companies have appointed local agents in India. There are about 1200 Indians in Finalnd and most of them are engaged in business.

The Prime Minister is returning on October 14.

UNI