British foreign secretary highlights India's growth

By agencies   |   Wednesday, 29 June 2005, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: Lauding India's "spectacular" economic growth, Britain has said that it would like the bilateral relation to be a truly global collaboration on issues which will shape the future of the world on energy security, climate change, development and security. "India, which maintains high standards of human rights and in whose legal system we trust, is not racing the world to the bottom, but to the top," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw observed while speaking on "India: The Next Decade" at the Chatham House here. "India's economic rise is not simply down to cheaper wages or to competition in low-cost sectors. British and other national companies look to India not just for low-cost call centers, but for services at every level of expertise and skills, " he said on Tuesday. Recalling his visit to AstraZeneca's first medical research laboratory in Bangalore just over a year ago, the British Foreign Secretary said "it says a good deal about India's position in the cutting-edge industries of the future. The hospitals of our National Health Service now look to India for overnight results on medical tests through the use of tele-medicine - images and other data sent through the Internet." Describing the rise of India as "spectacular", Straw said "India is one of the world's most vibrant societies, and the largest democracy on earth, with 5 and 1/2 thousand daily newspapers and the film capital of the world in Mumbai. That makes for an environment where innovation and dynamism can flourish."