During a two-day visit by the UK Foreign Secretary, which begins today, India and the UK are scheduled to sign several technology and infrastructure agreements. According to the British government, the visit would boost economic and security relations between the two countries. According to the British embassy in India, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Environment Minister Yadav during her tour and sign a number of IT and infrastructure partnerships to promote jobs and improve global green growth.
According to the announcement, the UK would invest GBP 70 million in green tech infrastructure projects across India and GBP 11.5 million in two venture capital funds targeted at assisting India’s transition to greener energy. According to the statement, the investments are part of a commitment to assist developing nations in growing cleanly and sustainably. “The agreements involve increased tech transfer and information exchange with developing nations, as well as significant cash investment, a model that the UK hopes to emulate with partners across the world.” The agreements will assist in furthering the G7 leaders’ Build Back Better World Initiative, which was established in June to address the massive clean infrastructure gap in emerging countries.
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Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and the UK Foreign Secretary will announce a new Strategic Futures Forum during their meeting today, bringing together leading figures from government, business, and academia from both countries to foster closer ties in priority areas such as technology and security, as well as shape our partnership’s longer-term strategic vision. Both the United Kingdom and India are recognized for their technological prowess. While the United Kingdom has the world’s third-largest number of tech “unicorns,” India has the world’s third-largest number of tech start-ups.
Later in the day, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will meet with Environment Minister Rajiv Yadav to discuss carbon emission goals. Liz Truss will go to Mumbai tomorrow for a roundtable with Indian business leaders to discuss improving infrastructure in developing countries. Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cancellation of a scheduled journey to India this year due to increased COVID-19 cases, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the first high-profile UK politician to visit India. On the other hand, Johnson had a virtual conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agreed to a path for further collaboration.
Both India and the United Kingdom are in the early stages of trade negotiations. The British Foreign Secretary’s visit coincides with a tri-service exercise between India and the United Kingdom off India’s west coast. The drill, dubbed Konkan Shakti by the Indian Navy, will take place in two stages, according to the Indian Navy. According to the press release, the harbor phase will take place in Mumbai from October 21 to 23, while the drills at sea will take place from October 24 to 27.
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The Indian Navy (IN) will be represented by three indigenously manufactured stealth guided-missile destroyers, the INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, and INS Chennai, two stealth frigates, the INS Talwar and INS Teg, and the tanker INS Aditya, according to the press release. IAF aircraft like Jaguars, SU-30 MKI fighters, AWACS, AEW&C, and Flight Refueling Aircraft will participate in the exercise. “The exercise at sea will involve advanced combat tactics, anti-submarine warfare exercises, over-the-horizon targeting drills, Air Defense Exercise, Cross Deck landings, and other difficult manoeuvres at sea,” according to the announcement.
