Four working groups, namely on innovation and investment, education and skills development, logistics, advanced manufacturing and engineering recommended the timeplan for doables.

Outcomes of the discussions in the British India Infrastructure Group (BIIG), which is a separate working group led by the ministry of finance were also taken onboard during the plenary session.

The decision to revamp the India-UK JETCO was taken during the three-day visit of the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron to India on July 27-29, 2010.

On innovation and investment both sides agreed to facilitate implementation of innovation in products, processes, services and create innovative business models based on the needs of both countries, innovation collaborations in the areas of healthcare, security, mobile communications were identified to assist Indian and UK companies leverage innovation to scale up and deliver quality services/solutions in the domestic markets.

In education and skills development both sides agreed to encourage public private partnerships and the building of business arrangements between UK and Indian skills providers.

In respect of logistics both sides identified capacity building in supply chain and logistics as an important area of collaboration and agreed on the adoption of one cluster for the implementation of the safety quality parameters with regard to export.

As regards advanced manufacturing and engineering, both sides agreed to enhance bilateral investment flows in the identified sectors, promoting institutional collaborations between industry and universities for enhancement of competencies through capacity building and technology transfer.

Addressing a joint press conference with the visiting UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, here, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said “the four existing working groups made their recommendations about the above mentioned projects to the JETCO today and both sides accepted them. The minister, however, did not divulge about time plans of any specific projects”.

As part of the JETCO agreement, both sides agreed to hold a meeting of senior officials once in six months to facilitate implementation of the decisions of the JETCO and to review its progress. It was also agreed that the next meeting of the JETCO would take place after one year in the UK.

India and UK also discussed means to increase bilateral trade and investment. In 2010 bilateral trade between the two countries increased to $10 billion. Britain’s investment in India rose to $18 billion, while Indian investment in Britain amounted to $20 billion. About 550 Indian companies are present in UK.

'We reassured UK about our forward-looking foreign direct investment (FDI) policy which is moving in only one direction - incremental and vertical. It is very reassuring for our partner that our stand is firm, stable and irreversible,' said Sharma.

Both the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to increasing FDI flows and ensuring a stable environment for investors. Both sides also agreed on the need for further improvement in the regulatory environment impacting trade and investment flows. Taking note of the progress made in the India–EU negotiations for a broadbased trade and investment agreement (BTIA) both sides looked forward to an early, successful and mutually beneficial conclusion to the negotiations.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a multilateral trade agreement and expressed hope that the Doha Development Round come to an early and ambitious conclusion.

Sharma also informed that he would visit UK in the first week of February for the joint CEOs meet.

The visiting UK Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable said : Britain is on a recovery mode aftermath the global financial crisis. India is now a successful economy. UK is interested in striking commercial deals in education and skill training. We are also interested in solar projects in Gijarat. The UK companies are eagerly waiting for fully opening up of retail chain in India for FDIs.”

When asked whether the UK's high visa fee cropped up during the bilateral meeting, Sharma replied, 'Mr Cable has taken a positive view on the issue and further improvement is possible.' Speaking about UK's stand on immigration, Cable informed that it was currently discussing the matter of overseas students. 'Our overall approach is to welcome overseas students and we want to prevent certain unpleasant incidents that have occurred with them. We allow overall immigration to a certain limit.'

'We have established a process for discussions with Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee this morning,' Cable said.

India-UK JETCO was set up in January 13, 2005 to further develop a strategic economic relationship following the joint declaration ‘India-UK towards a new and dynamic partnership’ between the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair in 2004. It was also conceived as a mechanism to develop business-led vehicles to enhance bilateral trade and investment through business-to-business relationships. In tune with the changing economic scenario both sides agreed to reenergise the existing JETCO mechanism with modifications in structure, membership and terms of reference, so as to provide a mechanism for business and government to act in a coordinated manner, with the aim of enhancing bilateral trade and investment.

Cable is leading a business delegation to India. Yesterday the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) signed an agreement on cooperation for trade and investment in the roads and highways sector in India. The agreement was signed in the presence of the Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Kamal Nath and Cable.

The objective of the agreement is to maximize cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries. The aim will be to stimulate business activities and to facilitate technical knowledge up gradation between public and private sector enterprises, business organizations and professional institutions of both countries.

Speaking on the occasion Nath highlighted NHAI’s plans to develop 55000 km Highways network in the country. He said that a formalized detailed arrangement for such cooperation between UKTI and NHAI, the two implementing agencies of both the countries, would present opportunities for development of trade and investment in the roads sector to mutual benefit of both the countries. He urged the British engineering consultants to offer consultancy services in India.

Nath also invited the British companies to participate in the OMT projects in India which he said would be a big market as maintenance of large number of public funded roads would be bid out on OMT basis.

The agreement has been signed in pursuance of the MoU on Cooperation in the Road Transport and Road Sector signed by India and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on September 27, 2010.

The MoU envisages both the parties to work together for acting in the spirit of partnership and cooperation on matters of mutual interest in road transport, highways and related services. The parties will be strengthening relations for developing programmes of practical cooperation on a wide range of activities through consultation and exchange of information, best practices, sharing of technical expertise and experience and providing professional training on mutual basis in the field of motor vehicle testing, driver training, delivering and maintaining highways network.