Punjab-East Midland to strengthen bilateral ties

Amritsar, Mar 22 (ANI): Punjab recently hosted a reception for the 14-member delegation from East Midland in United Kingdom which was on a tour to Punjab to strengthen bilateral ties and explore trade possibilities in the state.

The delegation showed keenness in sectors like education, engineering, hydro power, skill training and textile designing.

The reception was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Punjab Link Council (UK).

The delegates discussed possibilities of exports between Punjab and East Midland.

Punjab Link Council's Chief Executive Officer Baljeet Singh said that this was a great opportunity for both sides at the time when all the businesses were looking at their cold sides.

"This is the time to build resilience. I think this is the time to look at new corporate business ideas to see what we can do. For example- can a business have a joint venture from Punjab with businesses in the UK with people that are here, so that each business can develop, strengthen and have formal robust infrastructure than before," Singh said.

"These economic cycles are inevitable and I believe as we all believe there will be an upturn, lets get ready for that. This is the time to do it," Singh added. he head of the East Middlian Business for Punjab, Helen Dias, said that she is expecting to form formal links between the universities of both the sides.

"We tend to follow up with the universities mission. We will be promoting Punjab across the East Middle. For example- there are 5000 knitwear firms in Ludhiana and we are looking at Amritsar's growth. Call centres also have some potential here," Deas added.

There were 633 industrial enterprises in Punjab with investment of over 3.9 billion USD till 2003. Today there are 0.2 million small-scale industries and 600 large and medium scale industries functioning in the state.

Vice Chairman of CII, Gunbir Singh informed that the United Kingdom is the third largest cumulative investor in India.

"UK is the third largest cumulative investor in India. Today India happens to be the largest investor in UK and our balance of trade is favourable with UK," Singh said.

"We would like to see business opportunities, which can come our way during this delegation's visit. The more we expand our ties with other nations definitely it will benefit the common user and Punjabis in particular," Singh added.he UK business delegates reiterated the sentiment that Punjab is a natural partner for the East Midlands' region.

And they are keen to develop partnerships and share their diverse advanced technologies in space, transport - from rail to motor racing- waste treatment, bio and life sciences and technical textiles.

With mutual understanding and partnership, Punjab and East Midland can help their industries overcome the financial crisis. y Ravinder Singh(ANI)