GUWAHATI, June 24: British Deputy High Commissioner to East and Northeast India, Andrew Fleming called on Assam chief secretary Ravi Kota here and discussed a strategic roadmap to strengthen Assam–UK cooperation and leverage Assam’s rapidly evolving economic ecosystem.
The meeting was held in the context of the India–UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA, which comes into effect in July), covering investment promotion, export growth, technology integration, infrastructure development and skills enhancement.
Senior climate and energy adviser and sustainable mobility policy lead (India), UK FCDO, Haimanti Poddar was also present in the meeting.
The delegation presented the UK PACT-supported Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Need Assessment and Analysis Report for APDCL, which provides recommendations to strengthen grid reliability, accelerate renewable energy integration and support Assam’s clean energy transition.
“We also deliberated on the proposed Assam–UK Infrastructure Roundtable in Guwahati to facilitate partnerships in sustainable urbanisation, transport, flood resilience, climate-resilient infrastructure and project delivery, including potential engagement with UK Export Finance (UKEF),” the chief secretary said on Wednesday.
“Discussions further explored opportunities under the proposed UK–India Sovereign AI Partnership, including trusted AI infrastructure, sovereign cloud capabilities, advanced computing and AI governance frameworks to support Assam’s digital transformation agenda,” he said.
“The meeting reaffirmed our shared commitment to translating the opportunities emerging from the India–UK FTA into tangible outcomes through enhanced trade, investment, technology partnerships and institutional cooperation, supporting Assam’s long-term growth and global competitiveness,” Kota said.
