The Hindu Business Line : UK keen to strengthen ties with South India

THE links between southern India and the UK are helped by the deep regard with which Indian medical professionals are held in the UK, particularly nursing professionals from Kerala, according to Mr Jeff Wilson, First Secretary, Press and Communications of the British High Commission.

On his first official visit to Kerala, Mr Wilson said: "On the education front, we now have 15,000 Indian students travelling to the UK to study every year. We want to raise that to 21,000 within two years - that would make the UK the biggest overseas destination for Indian students."

Applicants from south India benefit from having a VFS office in each State; the one in Kochi services customers in Kerala. The British Library in Thiruvananthapuram is popular in the State and runs a series of events through the year.

Regarding the relations at the national level, Mr Wilson said: "The UK's links with India are growing all the time. Our annual trade in goods and services has already passed $10 billion, and India is now the eighth largest investor in the UK with some 500 companies represented there. So it is a two way street. A lot of British companies are off-shoring their operations to India. And both countries gain from this exchange. Our Director General of the Confederation of British Industries estimates that the UK has gained $16 billion because we have a liberal economy, which benefits from an open market for the service industry.

"India can gain from taking a similar stance, and we would particularly like to see that happen with legal services. In the rapidly growing Indo-British business partnerships and initiatives, this would not mean British lawyers practicing in Indian courts, but rather international firms working together to make business deals a reality," he said.

There are 1.3 million British Indians in the UK, and there is an exchange of nine lakh people between the two countries every year.

This is set to increase even further with 2.5 lakh visas issued last year and projected to grow by 20 per cent year on year.

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