Khurshid to visit UK in March

India’s Foreign Minister, Salman Khurshid, is scheduled to visit the United Kingdom in mid-March, The Hindu has reliably learnt.

His visit is a continuation of the agreed mechanism of alternate year bilateral talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

Mr. Khurshid and his British counterpart Foreign Secretary William Hague will conduct talks extending over the whole range of foreign policy and economic issues that define the relationship.

Today the U.K. is the 3rd largest inward investor in India with a cumulative equity investment of US $ 20,697 million ( upto December 2013). The U.K.’s share which was five per cent of the total FDI in 2010-11 jumped to nine per cent in 2011-12, and by January 2014 to 10 per cent.

About 700 Indian companies have operations in the U.K. of which about 10% Indian and India-focussed companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
According to the figures released by the U.K. Trade and Investment in their ‘2012/13 Inward Investment Annual Report’ India has 89 FDI projects in the United Kingdom which created 7,255 jobs during 2012-13. As per this Report, India is the fifth largest investor in the U.K.

The various domestic policies that have caused a decline in the number of Indian students studying in the U.K. is also likely to be discussed. As of now, India is the second largest source of students in U.K. after China.