Scotland-India Business Forum: First Minister's speech - 21 October 2026

Thank you very much, and good afternoon, it's an absolute pleasure to be with you this afternoon for this important part of our delegation’s visit to India, and I want to begin with the comments by Mr Bhatla about his working life, for his Scottish life in Scotland. And probably about the same time as Mr. Bhatla was working for Scottish Life, I was working for one of the rival companies in Scotland, so it was amicable, and we relied heavily on a group of technologists who were incredibly gentle, gracious individuals who supported us in our technological development.

But I can confirm that, um, they did know how to party. So, the comment about the Cafe Royale, for those of you from Scotland who know anything about it, the Cafe Royale, is certainly a place where you go to party, and the colleagues that I knew from India, who were with us at Scottish Amicable, knew very much how to do exactly that.

I'm very grateful to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) for hosting the forum today in partnership with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

Back in July, we had the enormous privilege of hosting the Commonwealth Games in the city of Glasgow, and as part of the programme of activity, we brought together the India - Scotland Business Forum in Glasgow, and it's a pleasure, so soon after that event, to be here with you in Delhi, to continue that dialogue.

It is vital, that this is a sustained dialogue that we have between Scotland and India to develop the business connections that are so much of the core of our future prosperity.

And this is now my third visit to India twice before I was here, as Deputy First Minister. This is my first visit as First Minister. But it comes at a time that, I think, is of such significance for us all, because of the opportunities that are presented by cooperation and collaboration between Scotland and India.

We've benefitted, we've been enriched in Scotland by the sustained partnership and collaboration with people from India who have come and made Scotland their home and contributed towards the academic, the entrepreneurial, the creative industries within Scotland, the financial services et cetera, within Scotland.

And we have benefitted enormously from that experience. But we now have an opportunity of an entirely different scale, which comes from the establishment of the free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and India, because what that does is create a framework of much deeper and much more sustained cooperation between our two countries.

But it also opens up very specific opportunities which enable our countries to cooperate, and hence why I've brought a delegation so extensive from Scotland to engage in that dialogue, the delegation that I'm leading represents a range of different centres in food and drink.

We’ve talked extensively so far already about in the course of this visit, about the significance of Scotch whisky, the reduction in tariffs is a really important opportunity for the sector to develop. We've talked also about the seafood sector, the Scottish salmon, and other products that are able to come and enter the market here, and we've got also a range of other food products, which are strengths of Scotland that we are keen to promote in the Indian market.

And my representative, a trade envoy from Scotland, on higher education, Professor Rachel Sandison, is here to encourage and facilitate what is an opportunity for Scottish higher educations, institutions, many of which are rated very significantly across the globe, and to be much more active in the Indian market.

And although I would really love to see more Indian students opting and enabled to come to be educated in our institutions in Scotland, there are, like, some logistical and visa issues that often get in the way of that.

So we can see the opportunity of bringing some of our higher education expertise to India, to enable new, uh, the deepening of that collaboration. And the delegation also involves a range of representatives of the business community and a number of other respects in relation to life sciences in relation to renewable energy. In relation to space technology as well, where we have significant strengths.

My point in explaining the contents of that delegation is to make the point of how important we recognise the opportunities for collaboration here in India. And part of what we are trying to create, and the hosting of the India Scotland Business Forum in Glasgow in July of this year, the visit of the delegation, now the proposed visit, not the proposed visit, the committed visit of the Scottish Chamber of the Commerce and the Business Delegation in 2027 it's all about recognising that, when you have the opportunity of a free trade agreement, you only realise the benefits of that if you give sustained commitment to realising the opportunities within that.

And my presence here is today as First Minister is a signal of the sustained commitment of Scotland, the Scottish Government, those who act on my behalf in our enterprise agencies to make sure that we have strong groups and strong foundations and a strong basis of collaboration here in India.

And in the Programme for Government that I set out to the Scottish Parliament in September, just after we had an election in May and I was returned as First Minister. I've set out a five year programme, one of the key elements, the key pillars of that programme, is about increasing economic growth within Scotland, and to enable that is an externalising of our economic activity, which means more trade, more engagement, more dialogue with other countries.

And when you have fast growing countries like India, and there are frankly, few countries that can rival the length of growth in India, there are so many opportunities for us to cooperate in taking forward that collaboration.

So, at the heart of my message to you today, is an absolute commitment to stay the course of India - Scotland cooperation. For the companies that have given their commitment to come to this market, their willingness and their enthusiasm to take forward that collaboration, and our determination to make sure that we realise those opportunities.

In doing so, we come into the Indian market, with a willingness to cooperate reciprocally, so there will be investment, opportunities, there will be in both India and in Scotland, there will be collaborative opportunities but fundamentally a deep partnership is what will enable us to reap the rewards of that.

In another thing in this work, we are very fortunate in Scotland, that we have the willing engagement and cooperation of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce. For many years, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce have led from the front, on the question of international business activity, and I welcome very much the commitment of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to this endeavour.

We, as a government, have supported the Scottish Chambers of Commerce through an international trade partnership. And through that, we've delivered over 140 international trade missions, supported more than 1,600 Scottish businesses, and generated more than 110 million pounds in forecast export sales. Now, these are very, very significant numbers, very significant achievements.

So I'm pleased to say that today, I confirm my further commitment of £500,000 from the Scottish Government, through the International Trade Partnership, to make sure that Scottish Chambers of Commerce able ever more to undertake this activity, to reach out, to support Scottish companies, make their connections, and to do that on a sustained basis within our economy.

So, to draw my remarks to a close. Let me reinforce in you the importance I attach to this cooperation. We are, after a period of negotiation, reached that point of agreement on free trade.

We now have the charge to turn the strategic direction of a free trade agreement into the practical reality of improving the economic opportunities for businesses, to improve life chances of individuals, and to ensure that we make the most of the deep roots that connect Scotland and India in a way that realises those great economic aspirations and ambitions.

And I'm looking forward to taking a, taking forward that message and assure you of the sustained commitment of the Scottish Government to make sure we realise that value in the years to come. Thank you very much.