London, Dec 17 (IANS) Britain’s Business Minister Peter Mandelson is visiting India for five days from Friday in a bid to forge business, education and science partnerships that he says will allow both countries to move up the “value chain”.
Mandelson, who looks after business, innovation and skills for the British government, will hold meetings with senior cabinet ministers, business leaders and scientists during his Dec 18-23 visit to Delhi and Bangalore.

In Delhi, he is expected to meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, underscoring the theme of his visit - ‘partners for a new century’.

“The UK and India are natural business partners. There are huge opportunities for UK firms in India and Indian firms are strong investors in the UK,” Mandelson said.

“In Europe, we have the biggest industries for life sciences, creatives and financial services and our strengths lie in design, innovation and technologies. To achieve both our countries’ ambitions for the future, the UK and India are moving together up the value chain.”

In Bangalore, Mandelson will visit the Indian Institute of Science to launch the IISc-UK lecture series 2010 and meet business leaders.

He will also discuss business opportunities in energy, low carbon technologies and manufacturing sectors and partnerships in higher education.

The visit is part of a regular ministerial exchange that culminates Feb 5 with a meeting in London of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee.