London, December 23, 2005 (IANS)

As 2005 draws to a close, bilateral relations between India and Britain are being described at their 'healthiest for a very long time', thanks to closeness on international issues, growing trade between the two countries and visits by top leaders during the year.

New Delhi and London enjoy special relations because of common historical ties, political institutions, British investment in India, the large Indian diaspora (1.3 million) that is closely integrated in British public life and close education ties.

Foreign office sources here say that bilateral relations have steadily strengthened over the past two or three years and are now at their 'healthiest for a very long time - if not ever'.

Bilateral relations were taken to a new level within the framework of the 'New Delhi Declaration', which was formally endorsed by the two prime ministers in January 2002, and which provides the new roadmap for bilateral activity.

One of the most significant developments during the year was Britain announcing a change of policy on civil nuclear contracts as applicable to India. This followed the new agreement reached between India and the US during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington in July.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to India in September underlined the strength and vitality of the relationship between the two countries. He visited as the president of the European Union and launched the UK Education Initiative, among others, during the visit.

Blair reiterated Britain's support for India claim to permanent membership of the UN Security Council. The month of September also saw signing of the UK-India Air Services Agreement and a MoU on oil and gas cooperation.

In April, it was agreed during the air services talks to allow huge expansion of direct air links between the two countries, paving the way for Indian private carriers Jet and Sahara (and BMI) to start direct flights.

During the year, there was a steady stream of ministerial visits in both directions. This included the visit in July by Manmohan Singh, who was invited by Blair to attend the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. During the visit, the Indian prime minister also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford, his alma mater.

British ministers who visited India during the year included Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt, Lord Bach, Minister for Defence Procurement, Elliott Morley, Minister for Environment, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Defence Secretary John Reid and Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell.

From the Indian side, prominent among the ministerial visitors to Britain were Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Tourism Minister Renuka Chaudhary.

Two-way trade of goods and services between India and Britain has doubled since 1993. Over 2,447 new joint ventures have been approved by the Indian government since August 1991.

As the year drew to a close, India and Britain launched the Indo-British Partnership Network in December to promote trade and business relations between the two countries, particularly in the small and medium enterprises sector.

As Ian Pearson, Britain's minister of state for trade, investment and foreign affairs, said at the launch: "The burgeoning prospects of cooperation across the entire spectrum of economic activity - from agriculture to manufacturing, services and the knowledge-based industry - will hopefully be progressively realised through many initiatives between the two countries and the Indo-British Partnership Network will no doubt make an important contribution towards taking the bilateral economic relations in their entirety to new levels".

This was followed by the launch of the Leicestershire Indian Trade Bureau by Indian High Commissioner, Kamlesh Sharma, who said the region with a large Indian community and excellent infrastructure was well placed to attract investment from India.

Meanwhile, there were several indicators of continuing close relations between the two countries - official figures here revealed that IT professionals from India accounted for an overwhelming 85 percent of the work permits issued to foreign IT workers during the past one year.