On July 14, the Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh Vardhan Shringla arrived in the capital city of London on a two-day visit.
He met his British counterpart Lord Tariq Ahmad, who is also South Asia’s Minister in the Foreign Office, alongside conducting a comprehensive review of cooperation between India and the United Kingdom’s (UK) implementation of the 2030 roadmap.
Glad to meet @harshvshringla again today. We last met in Delhi – a pleasure to be able to host this time in London. We discussed the continued growth of the 🇬🇧- 🇮🇳 relationship and how, together, the UK and India can provide leadership on global issues and be a force for good. pic.twitter.com/PIa081DoKI
— Lord (Tariq)Ahmad of Wimbledon (@tariqahmadbt) July 23, 2021
In addition, he held a meeting with Philip Barton, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) on July 24 i.e. Friday. Barton said in a tweet that the partnership between both nations was “going from strength to strength” as they work towards shared goals.
Today I welcomed @harshvshringla to London for talks on delivery of the UK/India #2030Roadmap. The 🇬🇧🇮🇳 partnership is going from strength to strength as we work towards our shared ambitions. pic.twitter.com/KZI4Y7PRZm
— Philip Barton (@PhilipRBarton) July 23, 2021
The roadmap was launched in May 2021 at a virtual summit between Indian PM Narendra Modi and British PM Boris Johnson. Introduced as a ten-year plan, it aims at building “dynamic” relations between its citizens as well as views it as a path to enter a free trade agreement.
Furthermore, it will be used to guide cooperation over the next decade in prime areas such as trade, economy, defense, security, climate change and encourage people to connect in education, research and innovation, capacity building, employment, and culture.
As United Kingdom is Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) dialogue partner, the 2030 roadmap looks for enhancing the nations’ engagement within (IORA) framework.
The leaders are set to strengthen the India-UK relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
