British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is visiting India and is in Ahmedabad after a grand welcome by troupes performing traditional Gujarati dances and music along a 4-km route from the airport to a city hotel.
Boris Johnson arrived yesterday.
said Boris Johnson.
On a two-day visit to India, Boris Johnson is meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi today.
It’s been a real pleasure to be in Gujarat today to see the fruits of the incredible partnership between the UK and our friends in India.
Today we have confirmed more than £1 billion in new investments between our two great countries, creating almost 11,000 new jobs in the UK. pic.twitter.com/dvR0OG775n
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 21, 2022
Indo-British trade ties
India and Britain are looking at implementation of a 10-year roadmap adopted at the summit last year to expand ties in key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections, among others.
India has just concluded a preliminary agreement on trade cooperation with Australia.
Now working on its ties with Britain, the Modi government and its sleuths are working hard to get the best possible deal.
There is a raft of agreements and pacts for which the UK and Indian businesses are working to finalize the finer details. Once confirmed more than £1 billion in new investments and export deals is in the pipeline. The areas of agreements will span from software engineering to health, creating almost 11,000 jobs across the UK.
Also read: UK PM Boris Johnson to visit Gujarat, Delhi
Meeting with Gautam Adani
Boris Johnson also met industrialist Gautam Adani for the second time in six months to discuss aerospace and defence collaboration, besides other sectors. Britain is also bidding to enter the Indian defence sector and wants to capitalise India’s plans to invest $300 billion by 2030 to modernise its armed forces largely through made-in-India products with foreign collaboration.
Honoured to host @BorisJohnson, the first UK PM to visit Gujarat, at Adani HQ. Delighted to support climate & sustainability agenda with focus on renewables, green H2 & new energy. Will also work with UK companies to co-create defence & aerospace technologies. #AtmanirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/IzoRpIV6ns
— Gautam Adani (@gautam_adani) April 21, 2022
Boris Johnson paid a visit to Mahatma Gandhi Sabarmati Ashram.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict
India and the UK have very different takes on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But this does not seem to be a bottleneck for bilateral ties between the two nations.
Boris Johnson said everybody understands that India and Russia shared very different relationships historically.
“We have to reflect that reality while talking about it (Ukraine) to Narendra Modi,” he told the media doing the opening of a new JCB factory (a British construction equipment firm) at Halol in Panchmahals district of Gujarat.
Boris Johnson who is known for his daring stunts, even climbed on a bulldozer.
In a separate exchange of views, Boris Johnson suggested to offer more visas to India in exchange for a free-trade deal with India – an ocean of consumers with capacity to spend, a market of 500 million people within the age of 5 and 24.
India on the other hand wants relaxed rules for its citizens to live and work in Britain in addition to lower fees for Indian international students.