Chopper deal: India to take up Agusta issue during UK PM’s visit

NEW DELHI/DHAKA: AgustaWestland will figure on the agenda during the high-level talks between India and the UK as British Prime Minister David Cameron makes a big-ticket official visit to India on Tuesday. Foreign minister Salman Khurshid told journalists that while it was not on the original agenda, it would now feature prominently.
"We didn't have it on the agenda earlier, but now we will." AgustaWestland is a British company and jobs there would be at stake if the deal falls through, a prime concern of Cameron in a sinking economy.
Khurshid also indicated that the government had not taken a final call on cancelling the VVIP chopper contract. "We are within our rights to issue a show-cause notice." There appears to be a review about the wisdom of axing the choppers rather than going after the offenders.
Arriving here within days of exposure of the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopters scam involving Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, UK Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to be pressed for more information in this regard during his meetings with the leadership on Tuesday.
The helicopters, three of which have already been delivered, are manufactured in southwest England.
India has already issued a note verbale and met with UK Foreign Office officials to get information and assistance in probing the allegations of corruption in the deal, an official spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs said.
Noting that the UK has provided an interim response, the spokesperson also said, "Nobody is ever satisfied with an interim response. Everybody would want a full-fledged response. So, I mean it is pretty obvious that we would like a full-fledged response."
Westland used to be a UK firm and was taken over by Italian defence giant Finmeccanica.
Cameron, accompanied by a large official business delegation, will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues.
Apart from the defence deal, other major issues expected to figure during Cameron's three-day visit would include the Rs 12,000-crore Vodafone tax dues matter and the UK hosting a meeting between the Pakistan and Afghanistan presidents.
While the Vodafone issue also figured during the recent visit of Finance Minister P Chidambaram to the UK, details of the UK-Pak-Afghan trilateral meet was being "finely studied" by New Delhi.
According to reports from the UK, Cameron also wants to use the trip to correct any misunderstandings about his government's move to bring immigration numbers under control amid concerns that young Indians could be deterred from applying to study in Britain.
Cameron's trip also comes close on the heels of a visit by French President Francois Hollande here to drum up trade, underlining the growing importance of the Indian economy.
Ahead of the visit, the UK Prime Minister said he wanted the relationship between Britain and India to be "one of the great partnerships of the 21st century".
Before landing here on February 19, Cameron along with his delegation would be spending a night in Mumbai where he will attend a business meet and place a wreath on police memorial.
Cameron's India visit is being billed in the UK as the biggest trade trip ever organised by his office.
India and the UK have vibrant economic ties and the two- way trade rose to about $16.157 billion in 2011-12 from $12.56 billion in 2010-11.
Total British FDI in India, as of October 2012 from April 2000, was about $17.08 billion, which is about 9% of the total foreign direct investment in India. There are about 700 Indian companies which have operations in the UK out of which over 70 are listed on London Stock Exchange.