New Delhi- Aiming to strengthen the bilateral partnership, UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss will visit India on March 31 to hold deliberations over cooperation across various sectors, it was announced on Monday.
“The visit will serve to further deepen our partnership across various sectors such as trade and investment, science, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate cooperation, education and digital communications,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
Truss will hold bilateral consultations with her Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar on bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest.
She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK.
This would be the second visit of the UK Foreign Secretary to India since the Virtual Summit in May last year and would provide an opportunity to assess the progress on the Roadmap 2030 launched during the it.
The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK Virtual Summit held between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson on May 4, 2021.
During the virtual meeting, the two leaders had agreed a 2030 Roadmap which will provide a framework for UK-India relations across health, climate, trade, education, science and technology, and defence.
The Roadmap includes commitments to expand the UK-India health partnership to enhance global health security and pandemic resilience. This includes firming up international supply chains to ensure critical medicines, vaccines and other medical products reach those who need them most.
The roadmap also includes commitments to work together to achieve the ambitious goals set out by both the Prime Ministers on tackling climate change and preserving nature, as well as accelerating the development of clean energy and transport, protecting biodiversity and helping developing countries adapt to the impact of climate change.
It also stresses on increasing cooperation between British and Indian universities on crucial research in areas like health, emerging technologies, and climate science.
The two also agreed to work in lockstep to tackle threats to shared security in all their forms. The UK’s Carrier Strike Group will visit India later this year to boost this work with both navies and air forces undertaking joint training exercises to enable future cooperation on operations in the Western Indian Ocean.
Last year, Johnson had planned to visit India twice but because of Covid-19 situation, his visits were deferred.
–IANS
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