UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decreased the size of his go to to New Delhi on the finish of this month as a result of COVID-19 state of affairs in India, Downing Street mentioned on Wednesday.
Johnson was to spend just a few days in India beginning April 26 as a part of a deliberate itinerary, which is anticipated to incorporate finalising a UK-India Enhanced Trade Partnership.
However, with the pandemic disaster in India taking a flip for the more severe, the itinerary has needed to be reworked and the key a part of the high-level bilateral interactions, together with bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the moment are scheduled to be restricted to New Delhi on April 26.
“We have been in close contact with the Indian government about the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit in light of the Covid situation in India. As a result of these discussions, the Prime Minister has made the decision to reduce the length of the visit, due to take place at the end of this month, to a shorter programme in New Delhi,” the Prime Minister’s spokesperson at 10 Downing Street mentioned.
The programme shall be centered on high-level discussions with the Indian authorities and Indian enterprise leaders, the official mentioned.
“We’ll set out extra particulars in the end, however the go to will embrace a bilateral assembly with Prime Minister Modi.
“As with all the Prime Minister’s visits, his trip to India will prioritise the safety of those involved. All elements of the visit will be Covid secure,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The 56-year-old UK prime minister is himself a COVID-19 survivor. In April, Johnson spent three nights in intensive care at a London hospital earlier than being discharged.
The assertion from Downing Street got here on a day India registered the best ever single-day spike in COVID-19 circumstances with 1,84,372 new infections.
On Wednesday, a single day spike of 1,84,372 coronavirus infections and 1,027 fatalities pushed India”s tally of circumstances to 1,38,73,825 and loss of life toll to 1,72,085.
Last month, whereas addressing the digital International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi, Johnson had mentioned that the UK and India’s shared imaginative and prescient for a sustainable future shall be among the many points on the agenda for talks throughout his upcoming go to.
“We have a shared vision for a sustainable future for our nations and global community and I very much look forward to discussing this and many other issues with Prime Minister Modi on my upcoming visit to India,” he mentioned on the time.
The announcement of the go to, which had been postponed from a deliberate Republic Day tour in January as a result of escalating COVID-19 disaster within the UK, got here because the UK launched the conclusions of its built-in overview of defence, safety, growth and international coverage – a post-Brexit coverage imaginative and prescient that falls inside a wider Global Britain agenda.
A central international coverage shift included within the overview is a definitive tilt in the direction of the Indo-Pacific area because the “geopolitical centre of the world”.
“I am delighted to announce that I will visit India next month to strengthen our friendship with the world’s biggest democracy,” he mentioned in a House of Commons assertion on March 16.
British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis, just lately mentioned that the go to guarantees to be a really vital marking of a brand new form of relationship throughout commerce and funding in addition to the alternate of individuals and concepts between India and the UK.
The envoy, who’s in control of finalising the prime ministerial go to agenda, highlighted a number of pillars of focus for the bilateral engagement, overlaying areas akin to defence and safety and local weather motion and healthcare, together with cooperation within the space of COVID-19 vaccines.
“This is the first major bilateral visit that this Prime Minister would have made to any country outside the UK, that says quite a lot about the significance of the India relationship which he seeks,” Ellis mentioned final month throughout a seminar organised by the London-based assume tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
“It is very exciting that he is coming. He was planning to come in January, but the Covid situation in the UK put paid to that, but he is very keen to come and we are really looking forward to what we hope will be a very significant marking of a new kind of relationship,” he added
