By Manish Chand

On Board Air India One, May 29 (IANS): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said that India was still a preferred destination for foreign investment and assured that issues relating to Scottish explorer Cairn Energy's nearly $10 billion deal to sell control in its Indian arm - Cairn India - to Vedanta Resources will be amicably resolved.

"I do not agree with the proposition that India is no longer a preferred or a hospitable destination for foreign investment inflows," Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from a six-day official visit to Ethiopia and Tanzania.

"I hope these issues will be amicably resolved," he said when asked whether delays in clearing deals like that of Vedanta has affected India's attractiveness as an investment destination.

The prime minister admitted that investment flows may have ebbed due to events beyond India's control like a spike in global interest rates, but stressed that he did not buy "the argument that India has ceased to be a hospitable, profitable destination for foreign investment".

"It will be our effort to maintain the climate of enterprise which is favourable for both domestic investment as well as foreign investment," he said.

A ministerial panel Friday upheld the conditions set by former petroleum minister Murli Deora for clearing Cairn India's move to sell its stakes to London-listed Vedanta Resources of NRI tycoon Anil Agarwal. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is expected to take a final call on the issue.