Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Planning, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences met with Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of Britain in the margins of the Summer Davos conference recently held in Dalian, China.
Brown expressed deep concern at the recent terrorist attack in the Delhi High Court and assured Dr. Kumar that Britain regarded India as a victim of terrorism, emanating from its neighbourhood in the subcontinent and that Britain stands by India in a shared resolve against terrorism in the subcontinent.
Brown offered assistance in marshalling the resources of international business and philanthropic community for facilitating the achievement of universal education targets set by India and the achievement of millennium development goals.
While appreciating the huge efforts being made by India, in this area Brown offered to facilitate the availability of teachers and technology to realise this goal. Dr. Kumar and Brown discussed perspectives of ways and means to further consolidate cooperation between UK and India through Science & Technology and Innovation space.
It may be mentioned that Dr. Carey, the Chief Scientist (Foreign Commonwealth Office, UK) is visiting India and will be hosted by Dr. Kumar with a view to exploring major collaborative projects in scientific research including futuristic and advanced research in nanotechnology, biotechnology, nuclear safety, material science, astrophysics and green technologies.
Dr. Kumar conveyed Brown deep appreciation for the support received from Britain on India’s perspectives on various global issues and for his personal support towards strengthening bilateral relations between India and the UK.