India and the UK on Tuesday signed an agreement to ramp up bilateral cooperation on “speedy” development of road and highway projects in New Delhi.

The pact on Cooperation for Trade and Investment in the Roads and Highways Sector in India was signed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI).

The ceremony took place in the presence of Indian Minister for Road Transport & Highways Kamal Nath and visiting UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable in New Delhi on Tuesday.

“There are many British companies who want to invest heavily in India’s infrastructure sector. It (the agreement) enables the process to be speeded up,” Cable said.

“This is an agreement which would cover operational requirement, construction requirement, equipment and engineering requirement in India’s infrastructure sector,” Nath told reporters.

Prior to the signing of the agreement, Nath had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, for cooperation in this regard during the Indian minister’s visit to the United Kingdom in September last year.

The objective of the agreement is to maximise cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries.

The aim is to stimulate business activities and to facilitate technical knowledge-sharing between public and private sector enterprises, business organisations and professional institutions of both countries.

Nath said the signing of a formal agreement for cooperation between UKTI and NHAI will present opportunities for trade and investment in the roads sector to the mutual benefit of both countries.

He also called for British engineering consultants to offer their services in India.

India has set a target for construction of 35,000 km of highways by 2014.