British diplomat Scott Furssedonn-Wood bullish on stronger UK-India ties

KOLKATA: The United Kingdom wants to be a key partner for India as the country embarks on a “new chapter” in its remarkable history. This is how Scott Furssedonn-Wood, British deputy high commissioner to Eastern India, viewed the UK’s ties with India as this country is poised on the threshold of what Indians perceive as a future brimming with huge possibilities.

“My prime minister, David Cameron, was the first world leader to speak to Modi to congratulate him on his election victory. He has invited Modi to London and looks forward to building the relationship between our countries further still. It is already in good shape. It can be stronger and deeper still,” Furssedonn-Wood said.

He was speaking at an interactive session on ‘Indo-UK Collaboration: Future Dynamics’ fielded by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Wednesday.

“It is such an important and exciting time for this great country. India, the world’s largest democracy, has just risen to one of the greatest challenges any democracy can face: the peaceful and orderly transfer of power in accordance with the democratically expressed will of its people. An election, on an extraordinary and unprecedented scale, conducted freely and fairly, delivered a clear and decisive result. The new government in Delhi has a strong mandate to pursue and deliver the economic growth that India deserves,” Furssedonn-Wood said.

Trade relationship between India and Britain is flourishing, he said. “We are well on track to achieving the goal set by then PM Manmohan Singh and PM Cameron in 2010 of doubling bilateral trade by 2015. And investment both ways is growing too,” he added.