Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab met India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar during his first visit to New Delhi from 14-17 December. The Foreign Secretary’s visit focuses on partnership in a range of sectors such as trade, defence, education and environment, especially in the post-Brexit world.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is Mr Raab’s counterpart in India, held talks with the British Foreign Secretary on Tuesday 15 December.
This trip is believed to be paving way to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to India in January as the Guest of Honour in India’s Republic Day celebration in New Delhi and UK’s invitation to India to be a guest country at the G7 Summit next year.
The Foreign Secretary is due to meet Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday 16 December to discuss a ‘10-year roadmap’ for a new era in the UK-India relationship, closer collaboration on an Enhanced Trade Partnership, and working together to end the coronavirus crisis and tackle climate change.
The Enhanced Trade Partnership will unlock economic benefit for the UK and India. Ahead of a future Free Trade Agreement, it will boost bilateral trade and investment, which already stands at almost £24 billion and grew by 11% in the last financial year.
UK-India investment supports over half a million jobs in each other’s economies. The Foreign Secretary also reaffirmed the HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group will visit the Indo-Pacific region next year.
Mr Raab said, “The UK and India have an invaluable and indispensable partnership, and we look forward to strengthening it in the years ahead. Together we can deliver an Enhanced Trade Partnership next year, combine our cyber security expertise to protect our citizens and join forces to protect global health and promote things like vaccine production.
“As COP26 President and G7 President next year we will work closely with our Indian friends, as they return to the UN Security Council, to boost trade, promote peace and work together as a force for good throughout the Indo-Pacific.”
As a major economic and diplomatic power in the Indo-Pacific, closer UK-India economic, security and scientific ties will boost growth and create jobs for Britons and Indians and bring together both countries’ expertise as science superpowers to advance the frontiers of medicine and research.
An immediate win has been the UK Global Tariff schedule, which could reduce tariffs on Indian exports by up to £40 million per year from 1 January 2021.
On Tuesday he also met Minister of Environment Prakash Javadekar to discuss further UK-India collaboration on climate change.
Boris Johnson’s to visit India in January
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to India in January 2021 to strengthen a key strategic relationship which supports jobs and investment across the UK. During the visit, the Prime Minister will be only the second British leader since Indian independence to attend India’s annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi as Guest of Honour, after John Major in 1993.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first major bilateral visit since taking office, and the first since our departure from the EU, and underlines his commitment to step up the UK’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific region.
The trip in January will kick off a significant year for Global Britain on the world stage. In 2021, the UK will host both the G7 Leaders’ Meeting and COP26 Summits, as well as a global education conference aimed at getting girls into school, and an event to mark the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in London in 1946.
Mr Johnson has written to Prime Minister Modi to accept his invitation, and to invite India to attend the UK’s G7 Summit as one of three guest nations alongside South Korea and Australia – delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition to work with a group of like-minded democracies to advance shared interests and tackle common challenges.
The Prime Minister will use his visit to India to boost Britain’s cooperation in areas from trade and investment, to defence and security, and health and climate change.
The UK and India are significant investors and markets for each other’s economies and our growing trade and investment relationship is worth around £24 billion a year, supporting more than half a million jobs.
There are 842 Indian companies in the UK with a combined turnover of £41.2 billion, creating jobs in all four corners of the UK.
That includes 19,500 people employed by Tata Consulting Services at sites including Peterborough, Liverpool, and Edinburgh; around 5,700 people in Warrington, Derby, Cardiff, Derry/Londonderry and Belfast working for business support firm Firstsource Solutions – which is soon to open a new office in Middlesbrough; and 1,200 people employed by Accord Healthcare Ltd in Newcastle and Barnstaple to manufacture and supply medicines to the NHS.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister Modi and I have pledged to achieve.
“As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet.”
As the ‘pharmacy of the world’ India supplies more than 50% of the world’s vaccines, with over a billion doses of the UK’s Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured at India’s Serum Institute in Pune.
UK and India have cooperated closely throughout the coronavirus outbreak to maintain the flow of medical goods for our citizens. The UK has received 11 million face masks and 3 million packets of paracetamol from India during the pandemic, and we continue to work together to keep vital supply chains open.
There are more than 400 British companies in India, including those at the forefront of our collaboration to tackle climate change. Our partnership is creating jobs and opportunities for UK firms in areas such as renewable energy and electric vehicles, as our countries work together to reduce global emissions ahead of next year’s COP26 Summit in Glasgow.
