British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is on a two-day trip to India, on Friday met External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar and said that partnership with India was absolutely crucial. She is one of the three high profile visitors from UK in India currently. The other two are UK Chief of Defence Staff, General Nick Carter, and UK Navy chief, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
“I am delighted to make this one of my early priorities as Foreign Secretary and indeed our second meeting together. It is because we see our partnership with India as absolutely crucial. You believe in free enterprise and you believe in freedom,” said the UK Foreign Secretary. Truss stressed that both countries should work together on shared plans.
“I think it’s very important that countries like ours act together on our shared plans for the future. We have a huge opportunity to deepen our relationship in a number of areas whether it’s security and defence, or technology, or health,” said Truss.
She also congratulated the nation on vaccinating 1 billion Indians in record time. “Vaccination is a great area of collaboration between our two countries—the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced here at the Serum Institute. There’s so much more we can do in areas like sharing our expertise on the environment ahead of COP26,” added Truss.
She also said, “I am very much looking forward to positive discussions that will take our relationship forward.”
Talking about her Mumbai visit scheduled for Saturday, she said, “We will be seeing the Carrier Strike Group in Mumbai.”
India and the UK have a busy calendar of engagements starting with the UK’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) led by 65,000 tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth entering Indian waters and one of the ship dockings at Mumbai Port.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar met his UK counterpart and said that they would review progress on Roadmap 2030. He tweeted: “Glad to welcome UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz to Delhi. Just completed a comprehensive review of our relationship. Roadmap 2030 is progressing well. The pillars on Trade and Prosperity, People to People relationship, Defence and Security, Climate & Health are all moving forward.”
India and UK on Friday agreed on the need to ensure that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists.
This statement was issued after External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar held bilateral talks with the visiting UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss. “They agreed to strengthen cooperation in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific, on countering terrorism and radical extremism, and addressing emerging challenges in the cyber and space domains,” the statement said.
“On Afghanistan, the need for full, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance was discussed, as also the need for Afghan territory not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or to finance terrorist attacks,” it added.
The External Affairs Minister also met UK Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter and held a conversation centred around Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific. “Received UK CDS General Nicholas Carter. Conversation centered around Afghanistan and Indo-Pacific,” Jaishankar tweeted. The top UK General’s visit comes following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. On Thursday, UK CDS General Carter called on his Indian counterpart General Bipin Rawat and discussed the way forward to enhance defence cooperation between the two countries.
“General Sir Nicholas Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, UK called on General Bipin Rawat CDS and discussed steps to take forward the defence cooperation between India and UK,” Indian Army tweeted.
General Carter is on a three-day visit to India. He laid a wreath at the National War Memorial and received a Guard of Honour at the South Block on Thursday.
UK Navy Chief, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin is also in India. He met Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh in Delhi on Friday. Earlier in the day, the UK Admiral attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in the capital city.