UK PM Boris Johnson to visit India at the end of the month

By Gaggan Sabherwal

South Asia Diaspora Reporter, UK

20th April 2022

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson is due to visit India later this month as both sides seek to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations. Mr. Johnson is expected to be in Delhi at the end of the month and his trip follows on from UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s visit to Delhi in March as a part of a ‘’wider diplomatic push’’ amid the ongoing Ukraine and Russia crisis.

This will be Mr. Johnson’s first visit to India as the PM of the United Kingdom. The last time PM Johnson visited India was in 2017 when he was UK’s Foreign Secretary.

Key Issues that may be discussed during the visit

During his upcoming visit, PM Boris Johnson and PM Narendra Modi are expected to sign a number of agreements with officials putting a breakthrough on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement talks as “major priority”, as well as discussions on increasing cooperation in the Indo–Pacific.

(Photograph Credit : GETTY IMAGES)

Besides this, PM Johnson is also expected to focus on Ukraine and the need for India to fall in line with the sanctions announced by the US and its allies. UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also spoke on this subject during her Delhi visit last month, when she held talks with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. This visit of Liz Truss was her second trip to the country as Foreign Secretary and her third as a Secretary of State in 13 months.

During her visit, Ms. Truss also highlighted the importance of developing deeper ties between Britain and India in the Indo-Pacific which would not only result in job creation, but also foster security in the region. A new joint cyber security programme is set to be announced, which aims to protect online infrastructure in India and the U.K. as both parties attempt to carry out joint exercises to combat threats from cyber criminals and ransomware. Besides this, India and the U.K. also plan to hold the first Strategic Tech Dialogue, a ministerial-level summit on emerging technologies. The U.K. has also confirmed £70 million of British International Investment funding to support the usage of renewable energy in India, which will help in building renewable energy infrastructure and developing solar power in the region.

PM Boris Johnson’s previous visits to India called off due to COVID

PM Johnson’s upcoming trip to India is long overdue as he was forced to cancel his visit twice to India last year due to the corona virus pandemic. His first trip was scheduled in January 2021 when he was invited to be the chief guest at India’s 72nd Republic Day. But due to the COVID crisis in the UK Mr. Johnson had to cancel his visit and then when his visit was rescheduled in April 2021, it was again cancelled as India was facing a similar COVID crisis.

During last year’s G7 summit in Carbis Bay in Cornwall in England, which the UK had chaired, PM Narendra Modi was invited as a special guest and Mr. Johnson was hoping to finally meet Mr. Modi face to face but then again that visit did not happen due to the corona virus pandemic.

Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi meet in person at COP26

The two leaders however did finally meet in person last November on the side-lines of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that took place in Glasgow, where their bilateral talks during the World Leaders' Summit focused on the India-UK climate partnership as well as a review of the 2030 Roadmap.

2030 Roadmap

In a virtual summit that took place on 4th May 2021 between PM Boris Johnson and PM Narendra Modi the 2030 roadmap was signed which outlines plans for the relationship between India and the UK over the next ten years and provides a framework for UK-India relations across health, climate, trade, education, science and technology, and defence.

The roadmap is a part of Britain’s so-called Indo-Pacific Tilt Post-Brexit strategy and as a part of this plan, the United Kingdom will join India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and become a lead partner on maritime security issues, coordinating work with key Southeast Asian partners. The 2030 roadmap aims to at least double bilateral trade between India and the UK by 2030. Trade between India and the UK is said to be worth around 23 billion pounds a year.

(Photograph credit : GETTY IMAGES)

Why is Boris Johnson’s visit to India important for the UK?

Now it is a well-known fact that PM Boris Johnson has always been a long-term supporter of strong India-UK relations and has always had special interest in India, its people and culture and hence why sources close to him say that his visit to India is very important for him.

But Mr. Johnson’s visit is equally important for the UK who after a messy Brexit affair two years ago has been trying to build its relationship with the rest of the world. Since Brexit, the UK has been trying to seize opportunities in the growing economies of the Indo-Pacific to cement its place on the global stage as a serious global actor. Both Boris Johnson and the UK want more influence in the Indo-Pacific, and they recognise the vital security role that India plays in the Indo-Pacific region and like the rest of Europe and the US, they know that they need India’s cooperation in maritime issues in the Indo-Pacific to counter China.

Upcoming visit expected to help strengthen ties even further between India and the UK

While both No 10 and the Indian authorities are yet to confirm any details of PM Boris Johnson’s upcoming visit to India, an in-person meeting was discussed during a phone call last month between PM Boris Johnson and PM Narendra Modi in which both the leaders praised the strong and prosperous relationship between India and the United Kingdom and vowed to continue to strengthen trade, security, and business connections in the coming weeks and months.

The forthcoming visit of Mr. Johnson to India also signifies the importance of India’s role in the dynamically changing global order as the South Asian nation prepares itself to host multiple foreign leaders in the upcoming months and the G20 presidency in 2023.

The Indian diaspora continues to remain one of the most economically productive communities in the UK and there is wide appreciation of the positive contribution it makes to the UK and its economy, and this visit of the UK Prime Minister is expected to see progress on further streamlining and liberalising migration and mobility of nationals between India and the UK and building even stronger ties between the two countries in the years ahead.

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