LONDON: British Prime Minister TheresaMay will lead a delegation of small and medium-size businessesto India in November as part of efforts to bolster trade withcountries outside the European Union as Britain prepares toleave the bloc.
The Nov.6-8 trip, May´s first bilateral visit to a countryoutside Europe since she took office in July, will be in pursuitof her ambition of forging a new global role for Britain afterit leaves the European Union, May´s Downing Street office saidin a statement.
The European Commission is responsible for tradenegotiations for the EU and some countries have said they willnot negotiate a new deal for Britain until it has actually leftthe bloc.
"As we embark on the trade mission to India we will send themessage that the UK will be the most passionate, mostconsistent, and most convincing advocate for free trade," Maywas quoted as saying.
She said past trade missions had focused on big business,but she wanted to adopt a new approach and would take small andmedium companies from every region of the United Kingdom.
Among them will be Geolang, a cyber security company basedin Cardiff in Wales, Torftech, a biomass energy company based insoutheast England, and Telensa, a company focused on high-techwireless street lighting systems, based in Cambridge.
May will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiduring her visit, and the two heads of government will togetherinaugurate a tech summit in New Delhi.
Liam Fox, Britain´s secretary of state for internationaltrade, will join the visit, during which a number of commercialdeals are expected to be signed.