British Prime Minister David Cameron trumpeted a $1.1 billion defense deal with India Wednesday, a product of Britain's drive to court Indian business and tap new sources of economic growth. In comments likely to please New Delhi but that could upset Islamabad, Cameron also said India's arch-rival Pakistan should not “promote the export of terror”, days after a huge leak of US documents raised questions about Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and its support for the Taliban. On his first visit to India since taking office in May, Cameron leads a delegation including six ministers and more than 30 senior executives from top UK firms to show Britain is serious about boosting economic exchanges with the Asian giant. BAE Systems, Europe's biggest defense contractor, and Rolls-Royce signed about $1.1 billion worth deal with a state-run Indian firm to supply 57 Hawk trainer jets to India, one of the world's biggest defense markets. Following in Washington's foosteps, London will start granting licenses to its civil nuclear firms to export to India, opening up business prospects potentially worth billions of pounds, according to British government sources. Finance Minister George Osborne was in Mumbai to persuade India to free up its financial services market and hasten the signing of a free trade deal between India and the European Union. “I want this to be a relationship which drives economic growth upwards and drives our unemployment figures downwards,” Cameron said in a speech to young Indian business leaders at the high-tech Infosys campus in Bangalore. “This is a trade mission, yes, but I prefer to see it as my job's mission,” he said. Cameron said on Wednesday that Pakistan must not become a base for militants and “promote the export of terror” across the globe, saying their bilateral ties depended on that. The remarks are likely to cheer officials in Delhi, which has long accused its neighbor of backing strikes on Indian targets including the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “We should be very, very clear with Pakistan that we want to see a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan,” he told reporters. “We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world,” he added.
