New Delhi, Jan 15 (KNN) The Government of Maharashtra and UK India Business Council (UKIBC) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate trade and investment through collaboration, sharing information, promoting ease of doing business, and smoothing investor interactions in respective markets.

The MoU was signed by P Anbalagan, Chief Executive Officer, on behalf of MIDC, the premier industrial infrastructure development agency of the Government of Maharashtra, and Richard McCallum, Managing Director, UKIBC, in the presence of state industries minister Subhash Rajaram Desai, during a Partnership Summit 2019 in Mumbai.

This MoU will act as a long-term business framework for India-U.K. businesses and the foundation for bilateral cooperation.

At the Summit, the delegation held roundtable meetings with both Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce & Civil Aviation, focusing on the businesses investments plans in Maharashtra and the support needed from government and local industries to realise these opportunities.

Speaking on the occasion, Group CEO, UKIBC, Richard Heald shared, “I am delighted to be deepening our relationship with the Maharashtra government, one of the most proactive states in India for business, and with whom we have a long and productive relationship.”

With this MoU, it enables UKIBC to help UK companies learn more about the opportunities in Maharashtra and facilitates the dialogue between investors, ministers and senior bureaucrats necessary to deliver investment, he added.

Talking about the MoU, Anbalagan stated, “Wherever you look – in finance, technology or education, our economic and personal ties are thriving and there is scope and willingness on both sides to do more.”

The MoU establishes a broad-based understanding between the Government of Maharashtra and UKIBC that they will collaborate in areas of mutual interest to support their respective roles, he added.