Johnson to Meet With Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi Next Week - Downing Street

LONDON (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit India next week and will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Downing Street has said.

"The visit will begin in Ahmedabad on Thursday [21st April] to meet with leading businesses and discuss the UK and India’s thriving commercial, trade and people links. This will be the first time a UK Prime Minister has visited Gujarat, India’s fifth largest state and the ancestral home of around half of the British-Indian population in the UK," Downing Street said in a Sunday release.

In Gujarat, Johnson is expected to announce new science, health and technology projects, as well as major investments in key industries in the United Kingdom and India.

"The Prime Minister will then travel to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Modi on Friday [22nd April]. The leaders will hold in-depth talks on the UK and India’s strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership, aimed at bolstering our close partnership and stepping up security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific," Downing Street stated.

According to the British government, Johnson will use the upcoming visit to India to drive progress in the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to boost bilateral trade by up to 28 billion pounds ($36.5 billion) annually by 2035.

"My visit to India will deliver on the things that really matter to the people of both our nations – from job creation and economic growth, to energy security and defence," Johnson said as quoted in the government statement.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that Johnson will pay an official visit to India on April 21-22 at Modi’s invitation and that this will be Boris Johnson’s maiden visit to India as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

"India and the United Kingdom enjoy a long and historical relationship which was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK Virtual Summit in 2021. The Prime Ministers will review implementation of the Roadmap 2030 and set their vision for further intensifying cooperation across the full spectrum of bilateral ties. They will also exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UK and India officially started their free trade agreement negotiations in January. The two countries have agreed to double bilateral trade by 2030 as part of a strategic plan announced by Modi and Johnson in May, 2021.