Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 21: The Prime Minister of United Kingdom Boris Johnson arrived in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad this morning. He is on a two-day India visit.
PM Johnson will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow, where both are expected to discuss trade and defence, among various other issues.
According to Reuters, PM Johnson said he was willing to provide more visas to India in exchange for the two countries signing a free-trade agreement this year that could enhance yearly bilateral trade by billions of pounds.
Johnson indicated on the plane to India that he was willing to be more conciliatory on an issue that could have stymied the discussions.
“I have always been in favour of talented people coming to this country,” Johnson told reporters. “We are short to the tune of hundreds of thousands of people in our economy and we need to have a progressive approach and we will,” he said.
Johnson will pay a visit to Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Ashram later. He is also expected to meet with businessman Gautam Adani. The British Prime Minister will then fly to Vadodara, where he will tour a JCB heavy machinery plant. He’ll then travel to Gandhinagar’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, also known as GIFT City. In the evening, he would fly to Delhi.
The UK has previously stated that it would not seek to “lecture” India about its UN neutrality on the Ukraine conflict or India’s decision to expand Russian oil imports. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the UK has been seeking to encourage India to reduce its reliance on Moscow.
Johnson’s visit is expected to offer a boost to the proposed free-trade agreement between India and the United Kingdom, as well as increase Indo-Pacific cooperation and strengthen defence ties. The situation in the Indo-Pacific will be a main focus of Johnson’s talks with PM Modi, as the UK is opposed to any type of coercion in the region.
On the Ukraine crisis, PTI cited comments made by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss during her visit to India last month, claiming that Johnson will take the same approach and will not lecture India on its response to the Russian invasion, instead outlining the UK’s position and listening to New Delhi’s views.
