THEBUSINESSBYTES
BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR,
JULY 21, 2026
The United Kingdom on
Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to deepen its partnership with Odisha across
trade, investment, education and cultural sectors, with British Deputy High
Commissioner to Kolkata Dr Andrew Fleming holding discussions with Odisha
Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on opportunities emerging from
the UK-India Free Trade Agreement.
The meeting, held at
Lokseva Bhavan here, focused on expanding UK-Odisha collaboration in key
sectors, including energy, infrastructure, skills development, critical minerals
and sports, while exploring avenues to enhance bilateral trade and investment.
The two sides also
exchanged views on promoting sustainable economic growth and strengthening
people-to-people ties in line with Odisha's vision of "Viksit
Odisha".
Highlighting his long
association with the state, Dr Fleming said this was his 18th visit to Odisha
and appreciated the state's rich culture, heritage and rapid pace of
development.
The British Deputy
High Commissioner was accompanied by senior officials from the British Deputy
High Commission, including Sandip Chaudhuri, Head of Investment for Eastern
India at the Department for Business and Trade, Kolkata, and Swarnamayee
Satapathy, Assistant Communications, Events and Visits Officer.
Senior Odisha government officials present during the meeting included Additional Chief Secretary (Energy) Vishal Kumar Dev, OPTCL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment Department Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav, and GRIDCO Managing Director Dr Satyapriya Rath.
The visit underscores the growing engagement between the United Kingdom and Odisha as both sides seek to leverage the opportunities created by the UK-India Free Trade Agreement to expand economic cooperation and strengthen collaboration across strategic sectors.
