Following is the text of the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech at the banquet hosted in honour of the visiting Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Mr. Tony Blair, yesterday.

~Mr. Prime Minister,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I extend a very warm welcome to you and your delegation. You have been in India for two days and I hope you have bee able to see some of our latest achievements.

Mr. Prime Minister, your visit caps a series of high level exchanges between India and UK over the last two years. It provides an opportunity to put our bilateral relations on a qualitatively new footing.

The multifaceted India-UK relations have gained resilience, maturity and depth over the years. The defining elements of our approach to politics and to society are democracy and pluralism. Both our countries celebrate the diversity of our multiethnic and multicultural societies.

Our shared perceptions have led to structured forms of co-operation in areas ranging from terrorism to drug trafficking, from UN peace-keeping to multilateral trade. We agree on the need to reform the UN Security Council. We appreciate your support for India’s position on this. We have regular Foreign Office consultations. We have a Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism and a dialogue on security issues.

Economic relations play a key role in the bilateral relationship and the Indo-British Partnership is an important catalyst. Trade has grown 30% this year to around 5 billion pounds. UK is India’s largest trading partner in Europe; it is also the largest cumulative investor in India. India has also become the 8th largest investor in the UK. We are happy that Indian companies are

looking at opportunities to invest in your country; and that over 60% of UK visas related to Information Technology go to Indians.

Mr. Prime Minister, our relations are not only a catalogue of politics and economics. The recently launched Indian Chair at Oxford University will reinforce the tradition of British scholarly interest in India. It is good to hear that our Hindi films – now quite widely known as Bollywood – are making some impact on British cinema. I was surprised to hear that one of them was on the top 10 charts in UK. From your side, you invented the game of cricket, which has become a national obsession in India.

The 1.5 million strong community of Indian origin is acquiring a growing profile of British society, economy and politics. It remains a valuable catalyst in promoting our bilateral co-operation. We see that it has also enriched British cultural and cuisine. I am told that chicken tikka masala is your national food and curry has become a trademark name in British cuisine!

While we are encouraged by these positive developments, there is still much scope for strengthening our commercial, economic and cultural interactions. Your visit would impart a fresh momentum to the process of identifying and pursuing newer areas of co-operation.

Mr. Prime Minister, your last visit to Delhi was in the wake of the brutal attack on the Jammu & Kashmir State Assembly and on the eve of the military action in Afghanistan. Since then, the action in Afghanistan has ended satisfactorily. But, the act of terror in Srinagar remains unanswered. The subsequent attack on our Parliament was an audacious act of provocation. It conveyed to us the stark message that we have to crush this terrorism from its source, even if we have to do it without outside help. The diplomatic measures we have taken against Pakistan flowed directly from this assessment.

We have appreciated your forthright statements and those of the UK Foreign Secretary, condemning the recent terrorist attacks in India and calling upon Pakistan to immediately take action against the organisations responsible for them. We hope good sense and reason will prevail.

Mr. Prime Minister, we see eye to eye on this and on other major international issues. This is an essential element of our strategic relationship with the United Kingdom, which we value.

Your visit is an important milestone in our bilateral ties. I am confident that our two countries continue to cooperate closely to meet the challenges and opportunities before us.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I request you to join me in a toast:

- To the health of His Excellency Mr. Tony Blair

To India-UK friendship and co-operation.

Thank you~.