Indian businesses doing well in UK, says British envoy in US

The British Ambassador to the United States has praised Indian businesses for investing massively in his country and succeeding where those from Britain, US and Germany have not done as well.
"We would like to see India doing so well and going up the league table in terms of GDP and prosperity. It is wonderful news from the United Kingdom's point of view," British Ambassador to the US, Peter Westmacott, told members of the White House Foreign Press Group in a media roundtable yesterday.
"The reality which we learn more and more is that a lot of substantial FDI (foreign direct investment) coming to the UK is actually coming from Indian businesses, who are investing in the UK and creating huge successes in industry where the British, American and German investors have not succeeded before," Westmacott said in response to a question.

In his interaction with the group of foreign journalists ahead of the G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland, the British diplomat however did not comment on the question of expanding the group into G-9 and making India a member, now that it is the third largest economy of the world.
"On the possible creation of G-9, I would not like to comment ahead of the game," he said.
Briefing reporters on the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland, Westmacott said the leaders of the G-8 countries would focus on economic issues - trade, tax and transparency - but would also talk on the Syrian crisis and the situation in the Middle East.

Besides the trade issues, the summit would also discuss relations between the developed and developing countries, in particular transparency in development to ensure that money for development does not go under the carpet and to have greater degree of visibility of trade.

International business affairs, he said, would be another issue of discussion, which overlaps with taxation.
"We would like there to be greater clarity in terms of company ownership," Westmacott said.
"We are looking for ways in which we might achieve a greater level of international understanding on that question," he added.
In addition, the British envoy said there will be discussions on the impact of the Arab Spring.