Offhand treatment at Heathrow irks Asian executives

LONDON: Indian and Chinese business executives are upset about the treatment meted out to them on arrival at Britain's Heathrow airport and warned that the country may lose millions of pounds in trade deals. 

Senior British officials have been told that airport authorities are hampering important transactions, by failing to give senior officials from increasingly powerful trading countries proper VIP status, the Guardian newspaper reported.

Britain's relationship with fast growing economies like India and China is at a crucial point. India has the second largest number of new investment projects in Britain after the United States.

Some senior executives from Asian companies have felt quite inconvenienced by what they regard as offhand treatment on entering the country at Heathrow.

"We are all aware of the problems. If a senior politician or business leader arrives in Britain from the US (United States) there would be appropriate steps taken to make sure that they experience a courteous and swift passage through the airport. At this time of high security there would still be checks but they would not be so invasive," a senior business executive said.

"The issue is not overt racism but rather that these people are not recognised in the same way as executives from other countries are. They are treated like regular travellers," he added.

London First, a leading British business umbrella group, has said that they will be raising the issue with the British government.