§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his recent visit to India.
§ Mr. TebbitI visited India from 8 to 14 January 1984 for the sixth meeting of the Indo-British Economic Committee in New Delhi. The United Kingdom delegation to IBEC included senior representatives of six United Kingdom businesses. During my visit I met Mrs. Gandhi and other Indian Ministers as well as representatives of Indian and United Kingdom businesses, both in New Delhi and Bombay. The meeting of IBEC dealt with a number of issues of bilateral concern including co-operation between British and Indian companies on projects in a number of industrial sectors both in India and in third countries, India's concern over her adverse balance of visible trade with the United Kingdom, and the European Community's import regimes for certain commodities of specific interest to India.
During my visit, I signed a joint plan of action for Indo-British co-operation on computer education in schools. This provides for exchange visits by Indian and British experts, possibly with a view to the provision of computer hardware and software, educational software, and training and consultancy facilities from Britain.
I was impressed by the opportunities which exist in India, and by the evident desire to expand economic co-operation between our two countries on a basis of mutual benefit.