London: Putting behind years of unrest to shift focus on trade and investment, Northern Ireland has identified India as the most crucial partner for its economic development.

This was stated by UK Minister of Trade and Investment, Barry Gardiner, who also told a group of visiting Indian journalists in Belfast that "we want Northern Ireland to become a sort of aircraft carrier for Indian businesses to export their products and do business with Europe and even America."

Gardiner, who had recently taken a high-power 18-member delegation to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore for exploring business and academic exchanges, extended his support to a well-planned "Opportunity India Campaign" in Belfast aimed at attracting Indian business investment and facilitating research tie-ups.

With lower costs of living, cheap labour and good connectivity with the UK and the rest of Europe, Northern Ireland, a country of 1.7 million people, is a great economic hub for India.

There are already significant business and academic links between the two countries. Last year, for instance, Indian customers bought goods from Northern Ireland suppliers worth about 25 million pounds.

"We are also seeing an increasing number of our Information Technology companies developing alliances in India that will increase their ability to compete in global markets. Thereby helping the creation of wealth and employment in Northern Ireland," Gardiner said.

With the appointment of Belfast-based NRI businessman Lord Daljit Rana as the Honorary Consul for India in Northern Ireland and facilitation by Invest Northern Ireland, the Government's organisation responsible for wealth creation, the region claims to offer India a platform and gateway to Europe and America.

Besides business tie-ups, the country's leading universities such as the University of Ulster and Queen's University have signed MoUs with Indian educational institutions like IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Mumbai to expand research links and student and staff exchange programmes.

With factors such as a large graduate youth population and a shift to a knowledge-based economy, Northern Ireland draws several parallels with India.

Pointing out to the HCL BPO centre in Belfast, Gardiner said the company has infused over one million pounds in the last 18 months infrastructure for its BPO and call centre operations. Its Belfast centre is now the second biggest outsourcing centre in Ireland with a staff of 1400. Barring a handful, all the staff are local.