British Deputy High Commissioner to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Gareth Wynn Owen at The Hindu office in Hyderabad on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
HYDERABADTelangana’s proactive approach towards attracting educational institutions and businesses can help deepen its ties with the United Kingdom (UK), said Gareth Wynn Owen, British Deputy High Commissioner to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, during an interaction with The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.“There are no barriers here,” Mr. Owen said, while speaking about the challenges of strengthening UK-Telangana relations. He said the focus should be on being proactive and identifying what could be done to create new opportunities rather than looking for barriers.He particularly pointed to the Telangana government’s efforts to attract educational institutions from the UK. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s current visit to the UK, which includes visits to multiple universities, was a positive development, he said. The government’s willingness to go all out to address issues and pursue opportunities in the education sector was encouraging, Mr. Owen said.Hyderabad also has significant advantages as a destination for global capability centres (GCCs), technology companies and pharmaceutical businesses. UK institutions that had visited the city had been impressed by the opportunities available, he added.Mr. Owen’s remarks came against the backdrop of growing engagement between India and the UK, including the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which he said would create greater opportunities for UK businesses seeking to expand their exports to India.“Scottish whisky makers are excited about the prospects offered by the agreement. For many UK companies, the immediate opportunity is exporting to India rather than setting up manufacturing or other operations in the country,” he said.He said his office had contributed to the FTA process by engaging with industry bodies and helping them provide information and inputs that could assist the negotiations. Organisations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) and pharmaceutical industry bodies, were among those engaged with by the office.Mr. Owen, who has 25 years of diplomatic experience across different countries, said his career had exposed him to challenging situations, including protests during his posting in Iran.On tourism, he said Telangana and Hyderabad needed to continuously pursue opportunities to attract more visitors. Promoting tourism required sustained efforts rather than relying on one-off initiatives, he said.The interaction also touched upon concerns over anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK, particularly incidents involving South Asians and members of the Indian diaspora. Mr. Owen described such incidents as isolated and said people in the UK had the freedom to express their views and protest, provided such protests remained peaceful. Published - August 20, 2026 07:58 pm IST
