Shivraj Singh meets UK minister Priti Patel

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today met UK international development minister Priti Patel here for talks on Britain's collaboration with the state on many projects, including the development of three smart cities.
Chouhan is leading a delegation of government officials from the commerce, industry, investment and employment departments to the UK on the invitation of Patel, who had visited Bhopal last month.
"The UK has a long and special relationship with Madhya Pradesh. It is a relationship based on solid foundations and a shared history that has a bright future as our partnership moves forward," Patel said.
"Our record of working together has achieved impressive results in health, livelihoods, governance and urban development. And as we move forward we will strengthen our ties by focusing on wealth and job creation which will benefit both Madhya Pradesh and the UK-India relationship through partnership working," she said.

Chouhan arrived in London yesterday on a two-day visit to promote the Global Investor Summit being to be held in Indore next month and to explore partnerships with the UK on smart cities and skills.
The UK is India's partner country for the Global Investor Summit, which is being described as the highest-profile biennial event for the state of Madhya Pradesh, and the forthcoming Tech Summit.

The UK is also India's country partner in developing three smart cities, which includes Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
During his visit, Chouhan will hold meetings with the UK businesses to learn more about their expertise in developing smart cities and will explore opportunities for British investors in the state's smart city programme.

He will also lead a smart city roundtable and make a site visit to the river Thames to observe how London uses technology to deal with waste water.
"The UK has a robust technical assistance partnership with Madhya Pradesh on smart cities and urban development, and has multi-sector investments worth 6.5 million pound in the state. This delivers a key commitment agreed by the Prime Ministers of Britain and India in November 2015," an official statement said.
Besides a meeting with Rajesh Agarwal, the newly-appointed Indian-origin Deputy Mayor of London for business, and an event with the Madhya Pradesh diaspora community in London, Chouhan will also be addressing the "Opportunities in Madhya Pradesh" summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and UK India Business Council (UKIBC).