Newstrack

VisitLondon to look at inter city London - New Delhi agreement for infrastructure facilitation

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

James Bildwell CEO VisitLondon

Ken Livingston, the mayor of London is scheduled to open mayoral offices in the two major metros of Delhi and Mumbai from November 2007. The mayoral agencies to be represented herein will be the London Development Agency (LDA), Think London, which looks after the inward investment into London and VisitLondon, the London Tourism Board.

The office is in the process of finalising an inter-city London - New Delhi agreement which will look into matters related to infrastructure development, idea and business exchange, investment related issues to boost trade relations between the two cities. The official opening of the offices in Mumbai and New Delhi will be followed by a week-long event and programmes touching on topics such as infrastructure development and tourism growth between the two cities. The week-long schedule is slated to take place between November 19 to 26.

Approximately a 100 delegates from various sectors such as tourism, IT, infrastructure, finance etc. will be part of this think tank delegation accompanying the mayor to India. Tourism will be high on the agenda for discussion. Considering India is the most important market in Asia, London is looking at India as a potential tourism market. Speaking about this new development, James Bidwell, CEO, VisitLondon, said, "We are looking at working with synergies between the two cities. There is a lot we can learn and share with each other. New Delhi today is a world city especially with the new metros in place and the recent infrastructure development in the city. The city will also be playing host to the future Commonwealth Games in 2010. Hence we are keen to activate an inter city London-New Delhi agreement that will help both the cities achieve understandable collaboration to implement the best practices of the trade. Further, I also feel it is very easy for the people to relate to London because of the related history."

Both cities, London and New Delhi are scheduled to host mega sporting events in the future - London Olympics in 2012 and the New Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010. According to Bidwell, the aim is to exchange ideas and learn from each other to put the right systems in place to make these international sporting events a success.

"London is a mature market and it will help India deal with issues that London has faced and while Delhi prepares for the big event of 2010, we would also be able to learn more from Delhi. There is a certain synergy between both the cities and we will surely gain from this practice," Bidwell further asserted.

Commenting further on the opening of the offices in India, Mark John Prescott, cultural relation officer, mayor of London's office said, "It is an attempt at knowing the city inside out which will prove beneficial to both, London and New Delhi."