New Delhi: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sits down with his British counterpart, Tony Blair, in London on October 10, the focus will be on giving a further push to the economic relationship between the two countries.

Briefing reporters here Saturday on the eve of Dr. Singh's departure for a six-day visit to the U.K. and Finland, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said there had been a considerable deepening of ties since their relationship was upgraded to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" in 2004.

Clean energy, R&D and counter-terrorism would also figure in the summit, said Mr. Menon, though he parried questions about whether India would provide evidence of Pakistan's alleged involvement in the recent Mumbai blasts. "We will be discussing all issues, which include our recent experiences as victims of terrorism ... [on which] we will bring them up to date," Mr. Menon said.

With London hosting the 2012 Olympics and New Delhi the next Commonwealth Games, one area of counter-terrorism where India and Britain could share best practices was in providing security for such large sporting events, he said.

During his British tour, Dr. Singh will receive an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. On October 11, he will fly to Helsinki to meet Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen as well as attend the fourth annual summit with the European Union, whose rotating presidency is currently with Finland. The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for a fifth of India's import-export volume.

The Foreign Secretary said the EU did not have a common position on the India-U.S. nuclear deal but that the Prime Minister would raise the matter in his talks in Helsinki. India has also been engaging individual EU countries on the nuclear issue, said Mr. Menon. "Our understanding is that the level of support [within the EU] is better today than before."

Mr. Menon said India was also very interested to hear from the EU High Representative, Javier Solana, an account of his recent exertions on the Iranian nuclear question. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.

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