Britain’s Prince Charles speaks with Indian Army officers during a visit to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun yesterday. The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla visited the academy as part of their tour of India that also took them to the northern city of Rishikesh, where The Beatles learnt transcendental meditation in the sixties.
London: British Prime Minister David Cameron has lauded India’s role in global economy and said that a close relationship with New Delhi is beneficial to both the countries.
Cameron was addressing the Diwali reception hosted at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence at Westminster, Asian Lite newspaper reported.
Cameron will arrive in India on November 14 for a day-long visit before leaving to Colombo to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on November 15 and 16. This will be his third visit to India in two years.
Cameron will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on key bilateral and regional issues. India’s acting high commissioner in London, Virander Paul, Labour leader and former minister Keith Vaz MP, Priti Patel MP and Sun Mark chief Rami Ranger were among the prominent people who attended the Diwali event. Speaking to guests inside a colourfully decorated Downing Street, the prime minister thanked the British-Indian community for their contribution to Britain. “It is a strong relationship, it’s a vibrant relationship,” he said. “It has so many parts to it. There’s all the shared history, there’s the shared language.
“There’s the great excitement about our economies. India invests more into the United Kingdom than the rest of Europe put together. Britain is one of the top three investors into India.
“Some of the projects, some of the businesses underway are thrilling. The cooperation between our universities, our shared love of sport. There’s so much that we share together.”
Cameron said Britain wanted to improve ties with India, especially in education, economy and infrastructure. “The exciting thing about the Indo-UK relationship is not the past or the present, but it’s the future,” the prime minister said. IANS
