Indian Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley who was scheduled to visit London on 13 and 14 October next for an inter-face with financial institutions to persuade them to invest in India, has cancelled his trip due to ill health.
While in London, Jaitley, who recently missed the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Australia, reportedly, because of a procedure to treat his diabetes, was due to meet his counterparts George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence, the details of which are being worked out between the respective Whitehall departments and the Indian High Commission in London. Jaitley was also supposed to open London branch of an Indian bank.
The International media agency Ray reported that Indian Minister for External Affairs, Ms Sushma Swaraj, who will be attending the Regional Prabasi Bharatiya Divas on 17 October, will meet her counterpart, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, when she is in London. Her visit will take place only a few weeks after she was startled to hear about Scotland's independence referendum and her slightly indelicate but honest response "God forbid!" at a press conference.
