British Deputy High Commissioner to Eastern India Scott Furssedonn-Wood on Tuesday said the United Kingdom is keenly interested to make foray into all business sectors of Odisha, especially industry and infrastructure, to achieve the bilateral business target between India and the UK.
“Things are happening in Odisha. There are tremendous opportunities in sectors like advanced engineering, mining and infrastructure and in skills and education. It is now a great place to do business. And that is why I have brought with me seventeen great companies who want to do just that,” said Furssedonn-Wood, adding that the two countries are on course to double trade transactions to lira 23 billion by 2015
Furssedonn-Wood, who made his maiden visit to the State after assuming office four months ago, expressed hopes that the visiting UK companies and their Odisha counterparts would find mutually profitable business opportunities.
A host of UK business representatives, Odisha Government officials and local corporate representatives attended the workshop on “UK and Odisha in partnership” held jointly by the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
Deputy Head of Department for International Development (DFID) Meenakshi Nath said the UK would approve no new financial grant aid to India. “India has been capable of taking up its developmental programmes. Hence the UK has decided not to approve new financial grants,” Nath said, adding, “However, we will responsibly complete all our commitments to ongoing projects by 2015.”
She said the DFID has introduced a new approach to provide returnable capital to the private sector to deliver jobs and growth. “We will complement this with support to improve investment climate and build capacity of private sector,” she said.
CII Odisha’s Omkar Mohanty welcomed the guests.