Strengthening Ties Between India & UK

0:03 Spotlight. This is Akashwani in the program spotlight. Now we bring you a discussion on strengthening ties between India and UK. The participants are Professor Gulchan Sacha, international affairs expert and Sonu Sud, anchor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed for his 4-day official visit to United Kingdom and Maldives this afternoon. In the first leg of his tour, he will reach London later tonight. During the visit, Prime Minister will hold discussions with his UK counterpart K Starmmer and call on King Charles 3. In his departure statement, Mr. Modi said that during his meeting with the UK Prime Minister, both sides will have the opportunity to

0:49 further enhance the economic partnership aimed at fostering prosperity, growth, and jobs creation in both countries. Briefing media ahead of Prime Minister's visit to UK and Maldives, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri spoke about India and UK ties. Let's listen to what he said. >> This visit though a short one will give both leaders the opportunity to review the entire gamut of the bilateral relationship and discuss ways to strengthen it further and also discuss issues that are of regional and global relevance. The India UK partnership was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2021 and since then has seen a regular high level political exchanges and both sides remain

1:35 committed to taking this partnership to even higher levels. >> To discuss the significance of Prime Minister's visit to the UK for deepening bilateral relations between India and UK, we have with us Professor Gulchan Sachdeva. Professor Sachdev, welcome to Akashwani. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. >> Can you give us a brief overview of the bilateral ties between India and UK and how do you think prime minister's visit to UK will deepen these ties? >> We all know that you know the India and the UK have longstanding historical ties. There is also legacy. There is a legacy of colonialism. There is a legacy of partition. There is a legacy of cold war. So many of those legacies are negative. But at the same time there is also positive legacy. the kind of

2:21 linkages our institutions people-to-people linkages we have and particular in the last 20 30 years there's a strengthening of relationship between India and the UK after the cold war I think in the '90s uh relations started to warm up and by 2004 we signed strategic partnership between India and the UK and later on this was elevated to enhance partnership for the future in 2010 there is a strong institutional mechanism You know we have now every two year there's a summit meeting we have the foreign office consultation and large number of dialogues we have between India and the UK but particularly since Brexit I think these relations uh have become much more strong and both countries are trying to

3:08 really upgrade this relationship because within Britain they wanted to have the new kind of you know linkages with the rest of the world moving away from Europe after Brexit and within that context India became very very important partner for UK and since 2021 they also announced that their tilt towards the Indo-Pacific that has also brought India and UK together and in 2010 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was uh I mean we had a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Johnson and then the whole relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership and then we also agreed on uh 2030 road map which covers almost a large number of areas and since then

3:55 many other things have happened. The main highlights as you know we all know is going to be the signing of a free trade agreement between India and uh Britain and uh the negotiation has been theirs started in 2022 but you know we were negotiating actually with UK also since 2007 when they were part of the European Union when they came out we started separate negotiation with EU and also with Britain from 2022. The India EU negotiations are still going on but we have been able to finalize. The negotiation were finalized in May of this year and during that time prime minister called that this is going to be a landmark agreement and similarly British prime minister also mentioned that you know since Brexit I think this is going to be the biggest trade deal

4:40 and the you know the mood has also changed both the countries towards trade policies. You know the UK has also signed uh many agreements uh during this period. You know they have signed with Australia. They have also signed with uh New Zealand. They have also joined this comprehensive and progressive agreement from the Trans-Pacific Partnership which is CPTPPP. And in fact Britain was also the first country which signed uh you know trade deal with the United States after they kind of you know announced this reciprocal tariffs. And after many years of cautious approach, India has also become much more confident because our economy is growing fast. Our exports have gone up. So we have also signed agreements with Australia, with the UAE, with Mauritius and uh two other

5:25 negotiations are very at advanced stage particularly with the European Union and also now with the United States. So within this context I think this is very important. This is also going to be again very important deal with the developed world because most of our earlier agreements were actually with the developing countries you know with with ASEAN and of course we had with Japan but and also with Australia but you know really a large economy the western economy where they have certain competitive advantage particular in the services and specific sectors. So that also shows that Indian policy makers Indian industry they have also become more confident with the growing economy. So we are in a position to sign trade agreements even with country like UK. >> Akashwani correspondent covering prime minister's visit to UK Rajesh Bali spoke

6:12 to India's high commissioner to the UK Vikram Duray Swami. Let's listen to what he had to say. >> So the free trade agreement we are working to finalize it. The objective is to have the free trade agreement land. It is of course a detailed and ambitious document which is probably our most ambitious free trade agreement to date. So there is effort that is required to make sure it's all accurate and covers everything that the two sides have actually agreed. It reflects the substance of what people are expecting as and when it lands. It isn't appropriate for me to confirm when that will be. The free trade agreement would have we believe very important impact upon on both economies. It'll help drive growth in both countries. It'll give businesses a more predictable framework not only carry out trade. It isn't just

6:58 about tariff reductions, important as they are and widespread though they will be. It's also about improving the terms of trade. In other words, the processes by which trade is carried out. That would also include the sort of larger economic circumstances. It includes customs arrangements on rules of origin. It includes government procurement and of course there is a huge and very important set of set of uh areas covered under services which is a significant segment of both the British and the Indian economy. >> The prime minister also said that collaboration between both the nations spans a wide range of sectors including trade, investment, technology, innovation, security, defense among others. So you feel that uh you know we can be partners who are actually

7:45 strengthening each other. there's a mutually beneficial kind of an environment uh India can also strengthen Britain and Britain can strengthen India. >> Absolutely. Because first thing is that even this particular agreement itself is very very comprehensive. So here we are not just talking about you know trade in goods. Here we are talking about you know trade in goods, trade in services. Then there are also issues of intellectual property rights. You know the we have also new areas in which we are actually entering particularly in the government procurement in the labor sector, telecom sector, digital areas. You know all these areas also would be covered within this free trade agreement. But at the same time you know this also will give a new momentum to the relationship. If you can see the whole road map 2030. So we cover large number of areas there. So here we are

8:31 also working in the renewable sector. We are also in fact very big ambitions from both side also is about defense and security sector. The defense minister Rajnat Singh you know he was there last year and many initiatives were taken. Now we also have this technology security initiative which covers you know areas like artificial intelligence critical minerals quantum telecom biotechnology and large number of educational institutions their linkages people-to-people linkages so you know it's not just only about this agreement which of course is very important for trade and we also have in fact investment agreement which perhaps still separate negotiations are going on. This will also give new momentum even to those uh negotiation in the investment sector. So you know this is uh going to

9:16 give us a new I would say roadmap because through this you know we can also strengthen our defense partnership. India has a huge uh program of defense modernization. We also are becoming a very significant exporter of defense products. So Britain has certain advantage in some of the areas. So we can it's not just only buying certain products from one country to the other you know we can once there's a trust once there are institutions are built once there is more companies are connected with each other in fact if you look at the numbers of financial and technical collaborations of Indian companies a very significant number of them would be actually with the British companies and other European companies so those kind of linkages would also strengthen I would say our defense relationship and so we can also become major uh defense producer so this is

10:04 going to give us you know spin-off in many other areas as well >> and you feel that the prime minister's visit you know it gives a lot of philillip to the diaspora the massive diaspora Indian diaspora which stays there and uh as you mentioned earlier it improves the people-to-people ties and uh makes uh things you know more pleasant and the environment more conducive for students and professionals Indian students professionals who are there >> Britain you know more than 1.8 8 million Indians are there. I mean you I mean the Indian diaspora is there. We have large number about I think the numbers are 170,000 students who I mean those who are studying in you know in different universities there once and we also have you know two agreements in 2122 particularly on the migration and mobility agreements and another

10:50 agreement about young professionals. So those to some extent facilitated more mobility but now with this there is also possibility because we are also going to have a double contribution convention agreement with it means short-term mobility uh from companies people those who are professional those who go and work on a particular projects particular in the IT related and IT related services those who go on a specific projects work there only for a few months and then they come back so earlier they used to you know contribute to the social security in UK Okay. And also perhaps you know they were doing also in India. Now as we also have similar kind of agreement with some other European and other countries. So that agreement also would be now with the UK at least for 3 years and then of course the final agreement would be

11:36 there. Through this the mobility of those professionals will become easier. In fact it will be less costly for the companies to sell. So it will really improve things in many many areas. And uh as a result of this uh trade agreements of course as you know 99% of uh Indian products roughly in fact almost all kind of products which they are going to the to the UK market you know they'll be tariffree so particularly sectors like uh textiles and uh gems and jewelry and marine products engineering organic chemicals and many many others they are really going to be you know beneficiary sectors and similarly obviously any trade agreement It's always give and take. So you also have to provide market to their products. And Britain of course is

12:21 looking for to expand market for scotch whiskey in India where we have 150% tariff. Now it'll be reduced to 75% and it'll go further to 40% in 10 years. But of course you know since it's a advanced economy so most of the Indian products will start entering immediately but there is a phase wise elimination of tariffs for many uh British product but more than 60% perhaps will start entering immediately for other products the phases are there for the next many many years. So there are certain uh when we feel that later on it shouldn't happen that you know particular the right >> uh automo sector that you know we have also we are also reducing tariffs on that but certain number are also limited. So there is also kota it means a certain number of vehicles can only enter into the Indian market and if that

13:07 kota is crossed then of course after that we will not allow. So there are all kind of I think the calculations have been made basically to benefit industry from both the countries. But you know overall it shows that Indian economy is uh mature now. Indian industry is mature. They are able to compete. They are able to they are looking for markets because there are many other countries which are able to sell their products in the British market because of certain other kind of agreements they have and if we do not have those agreements then obviously our industry is not able to compete. Particularly if you look at our products like textiles you know from many other countries they are facing very very serious competition now particularly Asian countries. So this agreement will really help many of those industries in India. >> Professor Sachev thank you so much for

13:53 throwing light on the significance of prime minister's visit to the UK for deepening bilateral relations between India and UK in diverse areas. >> Thank you so much. >> You were listening to a discussion on strengthening ties between India and UK. The participants were professor Gulchan Sajach Deva, international affairs expert and Sonus Sud anchor. This program was produced and presented by the news services division of our Kashmari. You can listen to it on our mobile app news on air. This program is also available on our YouTube channel news on air official. You may share your feedback about this program through email at [email protected] or WhatsApp on 9289444.

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