Ann has joined a team of eight Scottish delegates to promote Indo-Scottish educational ties in East India.

Speaking about how Scotland and India can benefit together through the stong ties built up by the UK and Indian Governments, Ann McKechin said:

"I learnt that the West Bengal government has identified biotechnology and information technology as potential growth industries. Scotland has strengths in both sectors. I am sure there is a potential for collaboration in these fields"

Ann met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and discussed Bengal-Scottish business and cultural ties.  West Bengal's director of Technical Education and Training, Parijat De, spoke on vocational education training initiatives in the state and how collaborative projects could benefit each other.

With more than 1,400 Indian students enrolled in Scottish Colleges and another 3,000 in Scottish universities, ensuring strong links with India's burgeoning knowledge economy is vital. This Scottish partnership approach with Scotland's Colleges, is possible because the UK Government Department for International Devleopment is securing much needed investment in learning infrastucture.

The UK government is already involved in a 500 million pound partnership with four states, West Bengal being one of them. There is also a 20 million pound project tie-up with institutes, including IIT Kharagpur and Jadavpur University.

British deputy high commissioner Simon Wilson said:

"We are supporting the development of skills like training in the English language and reaching out to nearly 13 million over the past five to six years. As part of the UK-India Education Research Initiative, both countries have pledged 23 million pounds to improve educational links. Over the last two years, 475 new Indo-UK higher educational and school links were created,"

Representatives of Scotland's Colleges International have signed a memorandum of understanding with Techno India Group. The state is in talks with Britian's Department for International Development (DfID) with a view to setting up of a centre of excellence for training officers and staff - worth around £6million.

Scotland is getting directly involved in the new developing economies, and thanks to the strong ground work by the DfID, our business and educational links have the best possible chance to grow.

• You can find out more about the visit in the Parliament section of the website