UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an official visit to India at the invitation of Indian PM Narendra Modi on 21-22 April 2022. With 75 years of India-UK relations and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav being marked now, the visit was termed “historic” by PM Modi.
The visit came a year after the virtual summit between the two leaders in May 2021. It provided an opportunity to review progress on the India-UK Roadmap 2030 launched last year. The two leaders resolved to advance the India-UK ties which were upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership earlier. A comprehensive joint statement was issued following the meeting. A separate UK-India joint cyber statement was also issued.
Prior to arriving in Delhi, PM Johnson stopped in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, becoming the first Conservative PM to visit Gujarat. Apart from business meetings, he visited the Gujarat Biotech University at Gift City and the Akshardham Temple.
During the visit, both sides committed to strengthening defence and security cooperation and agreed to work together to meet new threats across land, sea, air space and cyber domains. The UK also came forward to partner with India on new fighter jet technology as well as in the maritime sphere to detect and respond to threats in the oceans. In order to support greater defence and security collaboration with India over the coming decade, PM Johnson announced that the UK will issue an Open General Export Licence (OGEL) to India, to reduce bureaucracy and shorten delivery times for defence procurement. This is the UK's first OGEL in the Indo-Pacific region.
The visit provided an opportunity for the two PMs to review the progress of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA). PM Johnson urged the negotiators to try and close the deal by the third quarter of this year. PM Modi said that "good progress" was being made in the negotiations for the FTA and recalled that both sides have decided to do their best to close the pact by the end of this year. He said that in the last few months, India has concluded Free Trade Agreements with UAE and Australia, and urged that the FTA with the UK be negotiated at the same pace and with the same commitment.
There was considerable concern in the Indian media, prior to the visit, about how the two sides would bridge their different of approaches to the Ukraine crisis. Shortly before arriving in Delhi, the official spokesman of the UK PM stated that the UK would not be seeking to lecture or try to persuade India on one position or another. Reiterating India’s stance on the crisis, PM Modi spoke of the call for an immediate ceasefire; for resolution through dialogue and diplomacy; and for respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries. Both countries emphasised the need to maintain a free, open, inclusive and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
The two prime ministers discussed cooperation on clean and renewable energy to support India's energy transition from imported oil to more sustainable energy. The two sides launched a virtual Hydrogen Science and Innovation hub to accelerate affordable green hydrogen. They also unveiled plans for the Green Grids Initiative announced at the Glasgow COP26.
PM Johnson also said that both countries focussed on the partnership as science superpowers. PM Johnson appreciated the collaboration between Oxford university/Astra-Zeneca and the Serum Institute of India, which had helped vaccinate more than a billion people against Covid, including himself, and established India’s reputation as the pharmacy to the world. He announced that the two countries would now embark on joint initiatives on malaria vaccines. He spoke of a focus on antimicrobial resistance, and a digital partnership between the Indian National Health Authority and UK’s NHS.
New deals worth £1 billion were announced by the UK PM. One of these was £6.9mn to train Indian doctors in acute medicine: an advanced Post Graduate Program in Primary Care and Acute Medicine designed by Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Group in collaboration with BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) Training Academy will recruit and enroll a group of 20 interested doctors in MSc in Acute Medicine each year to provide them with knowledge, hands-on clinical training and bedside medicine by local faculty, topped up virtually by UK-based faculty, with a visit to NHS Hospitals in the UK for six weeks for first-hand experience. This would upskill MBBS doctors in India and help bring in UK based best practices, in a practical demonstration of the Living Bridge that brings the two countries closer.
From defence and security, to trade, investment, science, energy and healthcare, the visit opened new vistas in many areas, setting the ground for closer India-UK ties.
