On Thursday the two countries talked in detail about Migration and Mobility Partnership and the modalities of setting up Strategic Tech Dialogue for enhancing new and emerging technologies.
India, once again urges Russia and Ukraine to stop the ongoing violence and return to dialogue and diplomacy to bring long term peace to the region.
Both the UK foreign secretary Liz Truss, external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar discussed the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Iran and JCPOA, and the need for Afghanistan to have unhindered access to humanitarian aid. India also highlighted its concern that Afghan territory not be used by terror outfits.
The UK top official was here to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to urge India not to bypass the sanctions imposed by the West and its allies.
Besides meeting with external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar, she had meetings with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her day-long visit.
India and the UK agreed to intensify efforts to further strengthen defence and security, mobility, education, trade and investment, green energy as well as climate cooperation.
Ahead of her visit, she urged India to take a strong position against India, and had talked about deepening security and defence ties between the two countries and announced a new joint cyber programme to protect against cyber attacks.
In May 2021, the India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had met virtually. In her second visit to India since the virtual summit, both sides also assessed the 10 year roadmap.
Maritime Cooperation
Resolving legacy issues, joint production and development of defence platforms was on the agenda.
Both India and the UK have agreed to closer maritime co-operation in the Indo-Pacific region. The UK is set to join India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and become a lead partner on maritime security issues, including coordinating work with key partners in Southeast Asia.
With emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region, India welcomed the readiness of the UK side in undertaking activities under the Maritime Security Pillar of the Indo-Pacific Ocean’s Initiative (IPOI).
What is IPOI?
In 2019, at the East Asia Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced IPOI, which is an inclusive, non-treaty based, and open global initiative for promoting efforts to manage, conserve and secure the Indo-Pacific maritime domain.
As has been reported by Financial Express Online, the deeper maritime cooperation between the two countries is built on the visit last year by HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Carrier Strike Group (CSG). During this visit the CSG had participated in military drills involving the three services.
On Thursday the two countries talked in detail about Migration and Mobility Partnership and the modalities of setting up Strategic Tech Dialogue for enhancing new and emerging technologies.
Official statement from British High Commission ahead of the visit
According to an official statement issued ahead of her visit by the British High Commission in New Delhi, during her talks she will point to the importance of all countries reducing strategic dependency on Russia at this point of heightened global insecurity.
Flurry of visits
There has been a flurry of visits to India of several Western leaders, including the foreign ministers of Austria and Greece and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, in the last few weeks. Also, there have been visits of the US Deputy NSA, NSA of Germany, Dutch NSA, foreign minister of Mexico and they all are here to urge India to take a stand against Russia. The Russian Foreign Minister arrived in New Delhi to hold talks with his counterpart and to discuss global and regional issues as well bilateral issues.
According to the MEA the visit of the UK Foreign Secretary will help in further strengthening of partnership between the two countries in various sectors including defence, trade and investments, innovation, security, digital communications, education and climate change.
https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/maritime-co-op-indo-pacific-iran-russia-ukraine-and-trade-top-the-india-uk-talks/2479156/
