UK PM Boris Johnson To Visit India Next Week

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson will visit India next week to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi with bolstering close partnership and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region on the agenda.

Downing Street elaborated in a statement, “The visit will begin from Ahmedabad on Thursday (21st April) to meet with leading businesses and discuss the UK and India's thriving commercial, trade and people links. This will be the first time a UK Prime Minister will visit Gujarat, India's fifth-largest state and the ancestral home of around half of the British-Indian population in the UK.”

Johnson is expected to announce new science, health and technology projects while in Gujarat along with major investments in key industries in the UK and India, reported ANI.

The statement further read, “The Prime Minister will then travel to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, April 22. The leaders will hold in-depth talks on the UK and India's strategic defense, diplomatic and economic partnership, aimed at bolstering our close partnership and stepping up security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific.”

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Johnson’s upcoming visit to the subcontinent is aimed at driving progress in the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement which will likely bolster bilateral trade by up to 28 billion pounds or 36.5 billon US dollars annually by 2035, according to the British government.

The British PM was earlier quoted as saying, “My visit to India will deliver on the things that really matter to the people of both our nations - from job creation and economic growth, to energy security and defence.”

Johnson had spoken to PM Modi last month to agree on building a strong relationship between the two nations on trade, security and business in the coming days.

Taking to Twitter after the conversation, the UK Prime Minister wrote, “Today @narendramodi and I spoke about the grave situation in Ukraine and agreed its sovereignty must be respected. The UK-India relationship continues to go from strength to strength, and we'll build on our trade, security and business ties in the coming weeks and months.”

Both parties discussed issues of bilateral interests and agreed to further deepen the cooperation in various areas including trade, technology, investments, defence and security besides people-to-people relations.

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