Strengthening ties with India

Deputy First Minister John Swinney will visit India next week to further strengthen ties between the two countries.

The visit will focus on Technology and Life Sciences, promote trade and investment and strengthen education and cultural links.

Mr Swinney will be joined by a delegation of senior leaders from Scotland’s higher education sector.

He said: “India is an important international partner to Scotland and we have successfully collaborated on hundreds of different projects in recent years – from the Ganga River Health Project to delivering cost effective precision medicine solutions for diabetes.

“Scotland already has a strong history of engineering and innovation and Edinburgh has been named as the best European place to start a tech business thanks to its top facilities, strong international connections, world class universities and fantastic quality of life.

“There is much we can learn from India, a country highly regarded for its spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship and young ambitious workforce.

“Equally, Scotland can offer a lot of expertise in areas that the Indian Government have identified as important, such as clean water and data driven innovation, and I look forward to discussing these priority subjects further.

“Working with the delegation from our world renowned universities we will highlight the strengths and achievements of Scotland’s higher education sector and promote the exciting opportunities for Indian students to visit, work and study here.”

Background

Between 23 and 29 November, the Deputy First Minister will hold a series of meetings in Delhi and Bangalore with business and industry leaders, as well as representatives from the Indian Government.

The trip will include an official reception at the British High Commission in Delhi to celebrate St Andrew’s Day and a separate St Andrew’s Day celebration with alumni from Scottish universities in Bangalore.

The programme has been organised in partnership with Scottish Development International, Universities Scotland, the British Council and Visit Scotland.

In 2016/17 there were 1,425 higher education students from India enrolled in Scottish universities. India is Scotland’s fourth-biggest international market for further and higher education students.

Scottish direct exports to India were worth £235m in 2016.

In 2016 visitors from India spent a total of 334,000 nights in Scotland and spent £17 million.