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India and Sri Lanka on Friday adopted an ambitious vision document to significantly expand economic partnership after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. In his media statement, Modi, referring to the economic difficulties in Sri Lanka last year, said India stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" with the people of the island nation during the crisis as a close friend. The prime minister said firming up of an agreement for launch of the UPI payment system in Sri Lanka will result in fintech connectivity between the two sides. The past one year has been full of challenges for the people of Sri Lanka, he said, adding that being a close friend, as always, India stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Sri Lanka. In his comments, Modi said the security interests and development of India and Sri Lanka are intertwined and it is necessary to work together keeping in mind each other's security interests and sensitivities. Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a very ambitious desire to get the India-UK Free Trade Agreement signed by Diwali and his new British counterpart Liz Truss wants her administration to "match the pace and ambition" of the Indian leader, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said. Cleverly also said that the bilateral relationship between India and UK is longstanding and wide-ranging, which is both a "huge plus" but it also means that "quite understandably there is a desire to have a very, very wide-ranging, meaningful free trade agreement." "Obviously, Prime Minister Modi has set a very ambitious desire to get a free trade agreement signed by Diwali. Now that means that both us and Indian negotiators are going to have to work very, very hard but we are very willing to do so," Cleverly told PTI in an interview here Wednesday on the margins of the high-level UN General Assembly session. "We want to make sure that the deal that we do, ideally by Diwali, is the first step in a ...