While Britain based Non Residential Indians are excited to welcome and host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Britain has expressed very strong willingness to strengthen bilateral relations with India in many sectors. Modi is scheduled to visit Britain to participate in the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) being held in London in April. Modi will begin his three day visit to Britain from April 18.
Britain and India are expected to discuss and push for bilateral agreements in the fields of Cyber Security, Ocean Development, increase of work VISAs to Indian professionals and students. Both the countries are likely to consider free trade agreement also to boost bilateral business ties. Talking ahead of CHOGM, Mark Field, the British minister of state for Asia and the Pacific for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said that Britain has increased its focus on Indian professionals, students and on Indian trade ties.
He said that UK and India bilateral relations are looking very positive and going further the future looks even brighter. Ahead of Commonwealth summit at London in which 53 Head of the nations are going to participate, the minister added that Britain is welcoming Indians in all possible sphere of bilateral relations. He said that the both the governments are working on a number of sectors but the focus areas include ocean sustainability, plastics, cyber security, quality education and healthcare. Britain is very liberal in granting visa to Indian students and the number of student visa has registered an increase of 27 per cent.
Field said that Britain has also decided to give more work visa to the professionals. Field said that pluralism and common values are shared by both the countries’ institutions. Britain is oldest democracy and India the largest democracy in the world. Field said that there are 15,00,000 Indians living in Britain of them 6,00,000 are in London. Culture, sports and scientific bilateral relations are very important, the minister added.
Trade Relations
Trade and Investment point of view India is the fourth largest G20 country investing in Britain. The total volume of Indian business in Britain is more than combined volume of business from France and Germany. “30% Indian companies are investing in information technology. Indian Telecom companies are generating quality job opportunities in the country and Indian companies have generated over 10,000 jobs in Britain in the recent years,” Field said.
Baron of Wimbledon Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the British Minister of State for the Commonwealth and United Nations at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office stressed that both the countries must work on building stronger trade and tourism relations. He said that India is poised to become the world’s third largest economy by 2028 and Britain is positive to be India’s strongest business and cultural partner. Baron Ahmad said that Indian diaspora will play a major role in building bilateral relations between the two countries.
Lord Baron said that London is not only the financial hub of the world but the city is also the hub for various fields including insurance, legal services, consultancy and creative arts. Thousands of bright Indian students study in London based educational institutes and Britain wants this talent to be a part of Britain’s growth.
