Swraj Paul asks NRIs in US to invest in UK

washington: lord swraj paul, the leading london-based businessman of indian descent, has exhorted non-resident indian (nri) entrepreneurs in the us to invest in britain, saying europe offers them an enormous market and britain can be the hub. paul, whom britain's ambassador to the us christopher meyer described as "the roving ambassador for british business," said, "we are especially interested in nri investment because britain has seen the contribution of nris to the british economy." in a meeting with a few south asian correspondents at the british ambassador's residence preceding a reception in his honour, paul said wherever he goes "i keep reminding people that 18 million indians abroad have the same gnp (gross national product) as the whole of india and growing faster than india's." "these are the people we want to attract because we do hope that the nris who are successful in this country would like to expand in europe sooner or later because it's a very global business and when they are looking at europe, britain is a natural home for them," he said.paul told the journalists, as well as members of the british american business association here in a speech earlier, that britain today offersattractive incentives to investment "and our taxes for starting new enterprises are about the lowest in the whole developed world now after last month's budget." "what we are saying," paul explained, "is that europe, with a market of 400 million people, is a market which any successful company in this country, or in india, cannot afford to ignore and in europe britain is a natural and we are trying to give as many facilities as we can." paul said as in the us, there was in britain too, a dire need for skilledworkers, particularly in the information technology (it) sector, which, though not as developed as in the us, was certainly the best in europe. he predicted that as the us has done, with h-1b temporary work visas, and a move on the same lines by germany, it is likely that britain, too, would adopt a similar system to import skilled workers to give the country's it industry a boost. paul acknowledged that indians would form the bulk of these workers because "today in the it business and e-commerce, india has done a tremendous job." paul, who will accompany foreign secretary robin cook to india next week, said, "today, between britain and india, i would say, the relationship isreally at its peak." he said prime minister tony blair had struck a wonderful rapport with prime minister atal behari vajpayee, as had cook with external affairs minister jaswant singh in their many meetings. as a tangible manifestation of this burgeoning relationship, paul said cook, while in india, would inaugurate the new indo-british roundtable which would be co-chaired by him (paul) on the british side and k.c. pant on the indian side and would include industrialists, businesspeople, the two high commissioners and journalists. he said the agenda of the roundtable is "a clean slate" and it would "go into all aspects of building up this relationship even further." (india abroad news service)