British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, considered to be a potential prime minister, has heaped praise on India as a "genuine emerging power" from whom the world had "many expectations."
"India is genuinely emerging as a power and in it the Indian Diaspora is a huge source of strength" Miliband said, adding "we are lucky to have such a Diaspora."
Miliband was the chief guest at a reception jointly hosted by the Labour Friends of India, led by British MP Barry Gardiner and the Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Mukherjee.
Referring to India's role in the world, Miliband said "many of us have many expectations. We want India to play a big role in climate change and we have to work with India as a genuine partner of equals."
Miliband said that the UK-India relationship was a "partnership of equals." "Just as you are already playing a major role in (UN) peace keeping, we want India to play a bigger role in climate change, which is already having its impact," he said.
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State, Department of International Development; Sir Gulam Noon, NRI industrialist; Virendra Sharma, Labour MP; Jordana Diengdo K Pavel, among others were also present at the meeting.
Mukherjee recalled India's first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru's famous lines about "a tryst with destiny" and said, "Sixty years down the line, we are quite a way ahead with the 'tryst with destiny' but there was a great deal yet to be done in wiping out tears from eyes of the weakest of the weak."
