Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:52:35 +0000 Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent

New Delhi, India (AHN) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in India on Sunday aiming to boost economic ties and enhancing cooperation on climate change and counter-terrorism, officials said.

A high-powered trade delegation accompanied with Brown. It is his first visit to the South Asian country as Prime Minister and he plans to focus on talks to increase trade and investment with India.

The United Kingdom is India's fourth-largest trading partner and accounted for 3.56 percent of India's foreign trade in 2006-2007, according to the official statistics.

Britain is also the largest investor in the South Asian country, while India is the second-largest investor in Britain, official data showed.

On Monday, the British prime minister is scheduled to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues, they added.

Brown's engagement on Sunday includes a meeting with women entrepreneurs at the Nehru Youth Centre and an Entrepreneurs Summit at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).