The United Kingdom on Monday outlined three key areas for giving a boost to bilateral relations with India, emphasising infrastructure development, education, research and development and foreign policy, especially counter-terrorism.
Outlining the priority for furthering ties between the two Commonwealth nations, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the emphasis would be on developing strong economic ties for job growth and supporting exports from the UK to India.
Referring to immediate foreign policy concerns, the minister said that the UK was very much concerned about the spread of terror by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Iraq and also expressed sympathy for 46 Indian nurses who were released recently. The nurses were stranded in strife-torn Iraq. Hague announced he would take up the Iraq issue and the Russian action in Ukraine during his meeting with his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj.
Pointing to the scope for joint work on the foreign policy front, Hague said, "We want to work with India to ensure growing global systemic instability does not become worse." Further, he reiterated the UK's support for a permanent seat for India in the United Nations Security Council. The UK foreign secretary said as India grows, it would have to shoulder more responsibility in global affairs. Hague and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, both senior members of the UK Cabinet, arrived here from London on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, both visited a manufacturing facility run by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) in north Mumbai.
Later, Osborne met Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan. This was followed by both ministers attending a private luncheon organised by Ajay and Swati Piramal of the Piramal Group. Both ministers addressed the media after the luncheon. Osborne said there was a huge turnaround in sentiments about India's economic prospects in the last seven weeks. Now the challenge was to turn sentiments into concrete plans to push growth. "Good days are coming for British-Indian relations. The thrust will be on bilateral trade and jobs," said Osborne.
Osborne said he would meet the prime minister and the finance minister to take bilateral ties forward. He said the UK government would support efforts for developing the rupee into an international currency and also announced rupee de-nominated export credit finance would be initiated to boost bilateral trade.
M&M would invest £20 million in the UK to produce electric cars, which would be rolled out next year, he added.
Both ministers were scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Monday evening.
| Rupee booster |
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UK's Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne said Britain has been a key partner of China in the internationalisation of the renminbi. "Now, the UK wants to see how it can help you develop the rupee into the great international currency. Tomorrow I will set out details of the new guarantees we will offer for rupee-denominated export finance as a step on that exciting journey." He said good days were coming for India-Britain relationship. "Prime Minister Modi is seeking more investment in India's economy, and I want British companies to provide it, and the British government to support it." In the last couple of days UK-based missile developer MBDA has bagged a £250-million contract to supply short range air-to-air missiles to the Indian Air Force. It is expected to create 240 jobs in the UK. |
UK will set ambitious plans to encourage more British investment and expertise in Indian infrastructure, backed by innovative use of export finance to support infrastructure projects such as the Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor.
