India, UK to finalise trade pact by October

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, April 22

India and the UK agreed to take their post-Brexit relationship to new heights, especially in the area of trade, defence co-production, civil nuclear energy, financing climate change and improving mobility, during delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting UK counterpart Boris Johnson.

Johnson elated

Felt like Sachin Tendulkar upon arrival in Ahmedabad and also like Amitabh Bachchan on seeing my hoardings everywhere. Boris Johnson, UK PM

On Khalistanis in UK

We don’t tolerate extremist groups operating in UK and targeting other countries. Boris Johnson

The two leaders agreed to finalise agreements and oversaw the inking of MoUs that would give a fillip to intensification of India-UK ties.

A joint statement issued after the Modi-Johnson talks had no condemnation of Russia with the latter observing that he understood that India was not going to dilute its historically strong ties with Moscow. “But they can see what is going on and there is an increasing appetite to do more with the UK,” he added at a press conference.

Boris’ assurance on extradition pleas

PM Modi pressed Boris Johnson for action on economic offenders Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. Johnson at a press meet said: “We don’t welcome people who want to use our legal system to stay in the UK.”

In a move that will help both sides conclusively tackle the issue of aggressive Khalistani posturing in the UK that has included the targeting of the Indian High Commission in London, India and the UK decided to set up a sub-group on countering extremism.

This group will seek to achieve consensus on taking action against groups and individuals based in the UK and India who are seeking to incite violent extremism and terrorism and who are involved in financing such activities. They will set up a mechanism for exchanging information on criminal records, preferably before March 2023.

Both Prime Ministers agreed to conclude the majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement by the end of October this year before which they would achieve resolution of all pending market access issues in a balanced manner.

They also agreed upon the early conclusion of negotiations of a fresh India-UK Nuclear Cooperation Agreement to promote joint nuclear energy studies, radioactive applications, nuclear security and safety.

In defence and security, the two PMs agreed to deepen cooperation by quickly resolving legacy issues and finalise logistics and training MoUs to build trust and set the stage for the defence ministerial dialogue as well as begin joint work in maritime electric propulsion systems, modern fighter aircraft and jet engine advanced core technology.

Besides agreeing to expand cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, the two sides agreed upon quick finalisation of a “maritime information exchange arrangement” on dark and grey shipping.

India and the UK also agreed to closely work together to strengthen the global response to future health emergencies

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