Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6 (Inditop.com) Kerala will form a joint working group with Britain to explore business opportunities in that country as well as attract foreign investments to the state.
The decision to set up the joint business group was taken Thursday in a meeting between top Kerala officials led by Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem and a visiting British business delegation.
Robert Kelly, deputy head of mission at the British Deputy High Commission in Chennai, led the British team which included members representing the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).
UKTI is a business promotion body of the British government.
“It (the business group) would include people from both public and private sectors from here as well as from the UK. We expect to get the group to be formed shortly,” Jane Owen, director of UKTI, told reporters here.
Both sides have identified areas like tourism, IT and health care to boost cooperation.
He added that many British firms were now interested to invest in India and so UKTI was acting as an intermediary.
“Quite a number of UK companies are looking forward to work in Kerala’s tourism sector. Another important area is the skill category in the healthcare,” Owen said.
Kelly said British investors were looking for cities other than the big metros in the country.
“We will hold a similar meeting at Kochi later this year. There we will look for cooperation in the infrastructure sectors as several major projects are coming up in Kochi,” he said.
