'Tata's Corus deal was a wake-up call'

RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL / TNN / Nov 21, 2007, 01:00 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

Morgan said that his tiny country realised, rather "later" than feasible, that India Poised was "going to be the Raj in reverse".

CARDIFF: Tata's takeover of Corus was the "tipping point" for Wales, one of the United Kingdom's four constituent 'countries', finally to realise India's coming significance in the world, Wales's first minister Rhodri Morgan has said.
Morgan told TOI that his tiny country (with three million population) then realised, rather "later" than feasible, that India Poised was "going to be the Raj in reverse".
The affable but canny First Minister who leads Wales's semi-devolved government, was speaking on the eve of his country's first ever trade mission to India, starting November 24.
Morgan said Tata's acquisition of the Anglo-Dutch steel-maker, "which is a significant proportion of the Welsh economy even though it is just a small part of the English economy" was like a wake-up call to recognise India's potential.

Morgan stressed that Wales was conscious it was a late-starter. "Yes, we were advised to get into India and China early rather than late, but frankly, had we tried eight years ago, people (here) were just not sure how successful India was going to be".
In his trademark folksy style, Morgan said that eight years ago, Welsh business and political leaders would have dismissed out of hand, a saying that he firmly believed in, namely: "In 2050, China will be the world's factory; India its office; Argentina and Brazil its farm; Australia its quarry; the USA its weapons and films producer; Africa the graveyard and Europe its old people's home".

The Welsh trade delegation, led by Morgan's deputy Ieuan Jones, will have 20 of the country's leading businessmen from diverse sectors such as IT, steel-product manufacture, construction, film production and higher education.
Morgan admitted that the delegation's advance preparations for its whistle-stop tour of Delhi and Mumbai appeared to be exciting little interest in India with two senior cabinet ministers dismissively describing themselves as too busy to meet Jones. But he said this may at least partly to do "with the perception of Wales abroad in two mega markets (India and China), it is quite difficult for a small country to raise its profile".
Morgan said Wales was now planning to use its huge Gujarati community, which is one of the largest in the United Kingdom, as "our secret weapon to raise our profile in India". He said that Wales, which is soon to have its first test match status ground at Glamorgan, also plans to use cricket as a common language to talk to the Indian giant.

End of Article