The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) signs a comprehensive partnership agreement with Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) on Tuesday, to focus on SMEs, higher education, skills development, food processing, infrastructure development, supply chain management & tourism.

The agreements coincide with the visit of Alex Salmond, first minister of Scotland who is leading a trade and tourism delegation to India, in a bid to raise Scotland's profile with India's policy makers and the business community.

Under the agreement both the parties will cooperate in areas such as higher education, food processing, small and medium enterprises and tourism.

"Scotland being home to top end technologies in diverse sectors as life sciences, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, food processing, higher education, engineering, to name a few, the scope and opportunities for actively engaging the business communities of both India and Scotland remains very promising," said Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI.

With Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth games 2014, the mutually beneficial business interactions are expected to accelerate further in the coming years, he added.

The two organizations will also endeavour to cooperate in supply chain management and logistics, construction, engineering and general infrastructure development.

"Both India and Scotland stand to gain from the enhanced interactions. Cooperation in small and medium enterprise sector could be the next frontier for laying the ground for technical and human resource upgradation for both of us in the coming times," said Michael Salter, chairman SCC.