Talking to media persons, Carter, who was in Shimla to explore new Indo-British collaborations in Himachal Pradesh, announced that trade sanctions on India would not affect the country's investment opportunities and British companies were already waiting in the wings for this. ``India continues to be among the top 12 countries bracketed for investment and export promotion activities by Britain,'' he informed.

Replying to specific questions, the deputy high commissioner said even after imposition of the sanctions, several leading British companies found the investment climate in India most conducive .The deputy high commissioner said after liberalisation was introduced, trade and business ties swelled from Rs 11,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore besides an invisible trade turnover of another Rs 7,000 crore. Current investment of British companies was to the order of Rs 18,000 crore and the number of joint ventures had increased to 800 ever since signing of Indo-British partnership.

Earlier, speaking at a seminar organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Carter urged the Union government besides Himachal Pradesh to remove existing bottlenecks in the system to pave way for greater collaborations in trade. He said hydro-power, tourism and agri-business would be given top priority for investments in Himachal.

Industries Minister Kishori Lal, who inaugurated the seminar announced that the state government had simplified the procedure for land transfer to enable entrepreneurs to set up industrial projects, tourism related units and hydro-power projects. A notification in this regard was being issued very soon exempting all three categories from provisions of Section 118 of HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act.

Carter later met Governor V. S. Rama Devi and explained to her the scope of Indo-British collaborations in Himachal.