UK PM Boris Johnson likely to travel to Chennai during India visit in April

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to travel to Chennai during his visit to India next week, reports suggest. His Chennai schedule is being worked out, according to news agency ANI, which said that advance UK teams will reach the Tamil Nadu state capital.

Johnson, who’ll arrive in the country on April 26, had to cancel his previous visit to India during the Republic Day celebrations, where he was invited as a chief guest, due to rising COVID-19 cases in view of the emergence of a new virus variant in his country.

However, no official announcement regarding the date of Johnson’s visit to India has been made yet. Reports suggest various aspects of his visit are being looked into.

The British PM had lauded his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s leadership in fields such as renewable energy, while speaking at the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, during which he had also mentioned about his upcoming visit to India.

British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said on Friday that Johnson’s scheduled visit next month promises to be a very significant marking of a new kind of relationship across trade and investment as well as the exchange of people and ideas between India and UK.

Related news | Boris Johnson to visit India in April-end to unlock Indo-Pacific opportunities

Ellis, who is in charge of finalising the prime ministerial visit agenda, highlighted several pillars of focus for the bilateral engagement, covering areas such as defence and security and climate action and healthcare, including cooperation in the area of COVID-19 vaccines.

“This is the first major bilateral visit that this Prime Minister would have made to any country outside the UK, that says quite a lot about the significance of the India relationship which he seeks,” said Ellis at a virtual seminar organised by a London-based think-tank.

[With inputs from agencies]