India, UK aim for big Diwali deal; trade, defence to get booster dose

India and the United Kingdom have agreed to significantly boost ties on trade, defence and other matters, during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson in New Delhi on Friday.

Key among the deals is a plan to conclude India-UK Free Trade Agreement by Diwali. “PM Narendra Modi and I have told our negotiators to conclude the Free Trade Agreement by Diwali,” UK PM Johnson said at the meet.

The UK is also working on creating an India-specific open general export license wherein there would be reduced bureaucracy and lower delivery times for defence procurement, he said.

“We appreciate the tariffs being dropped by India on certain goods and commodities and in return, we too are dropping some tariffs we levy. We also look forward to the close cooperation shared between the UK’s NHS and India’s health services,” he said.

Britain and India have also agreed to a “new and expanded” defence and security partnership, Johnson said. The two countries have a “shared interest in keeping the Indo-Pacific open and free”, he added, calling the new partnership “a decades-long commitment”.

India too welcomed UK in the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative under the maritime security pillar and agreed to cooperate closely in this region for maintaining an open, free and secure Indo-Pacific region, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

Also read: Boris Johnson meets Modi, says UK-India ties a ‘beacon in stormy seas’

This quite significant as the partnership comes after India’s deals with the US, Japan and Australia as part of the Quad, which is aimed at thwarting the dominance of China in the region.

Apart from these, the two countries also discussed, and agreed to cooperate on, the energy sector, especially on green hydrogen.

Both the leaders discussed a wide range of issues, trade, and jobs opportunities. Cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, space, and other technologies were also discussed, Shringla said.