Mr Virendra Sharma, Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall, has been re-elected Chair of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). Sharma, who has been the Chair for seven years, was unanimously re-elected by the cross-party meeting of members of both Houses of Parliament. The group, of which fellow local MPs Stephen Pound and Seema Malhotra were elected Vice Chairs, works to promote understanding and co-operation between the people and parliamentarians of India and Britain.
Mr Sharma is the only first generation member of the Indian diaspora to sit in the House of Commons and has long been a leader on Indian affairs. Earlier this year, he led an international cross-party delegation of parliamentarians to Agra and to Delhi, where they met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Following the meeting, Mr Virendra Sharma MP said: “I am delighted to once again be re-elected Chair of this group. I have very much enjoyed leading it for the last seven years and look forward to organising some excellent events in the coming year to promote understanding between the Indian and British peoples, and to encourage co-operation between businesses and parliamentarians in our two great countries.
“The Brexit negotiation period will be a challenging time for the United Kingdom and I want to do everything I can to encourage further trade and investment opportunities between the UK and India.”
