UK PM Boris Johnson to visit India with aim to boost bilateral ties

New Delhi: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson will be on India visit later this month as both sides are set to further firm up ties. The visit comes amid London's Indo pacific tilt and both sides hold talks on the free trade pact. He is expected to be in Delhi in the 4th week of the month. Both Indian PM Modi and British PM met last year in November on the sidelines of the Glasgow climate summit. 

Last year, UK PM's India visit was cancelled twice. First in January, when he was the chief guest at India's republic day but due to covid crisis in his country it could not materialize, then in April when India was in the midst of pandemic wave. UK, as the chair of G7 last year also invited PM Modi as a guest, but that visit also could not happen due to the pandemic.

May 2021 saw a virtual summit between the 2 leaders who agreed on the 2030 roadmap. The roadmap provides a framework for UK-India relations across the health, climate, trade, education, science and technology, and defense.

The two countries also agreed to elevate the status of the relationship to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’. With trade pact talks under way, one of the key outcomes of the virtual summit is to double trade by 2030. Trade between the UK and India is worth around £23 billion a year.

Just last month, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was in Delhi as part of a "wider diplomatic push" amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was her second trip to the country as Foreign Secretary following her visit last October and her third as a Secretary of State in 13 months. UK as part of its Indo pacific tilt post BREXIT, will join India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and become a lead partner on maritime security issues, coordinating work with key partners in Southeast Asia.

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