Delhi: Britain’s Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss will visit India, will discuss strengthening partnership

New Delhi :  With a view to strengthen the bilateral partnership, UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss will visit India on March 31 to discuss cooperation in various fields. It was announced on Monday. “The visit will serve to further deepen our partnership in various areas such as trade and investment, science, technology and innovation, defense and security, climate cooperation, education and digital communications,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.

Truss will hold bilateral consultations with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.Last year, Johnson had planned to visit India twice, but due to the COVID-19 situation, his visits were postponed.

She will also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a Track 1.5 dialogue between the two countries organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK. This will be the UK Foreign Secretary’s second visit to India after the virtual summit in May last year and will provide an opportunity to assess progress on the 2030 Roadmap launched.

The India-UK relationship was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK Virtual Summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson on May 4, 2021. During the virtual meeting, the two leaders agreed on the 2030 Roadmap which will provide a framework for UK-India relations in health, climate, trade, education, science and technology and defence.

The roadmap includes a commitment to expanding the UK-India health partnership for global health security and pandemic prevention. This includes strengthening international supply chains to deliver critical drugs, vaccines and other medical products to those who need them most. he roadmap includes achieving the ambitious goals set by the two prime ministers to tackle climate change and conserve nature, as well as accelerate the development of clean energy and transport, protect biodiversity and help developing countries adapt to the impact. Including a commitment to work together.

It also calls for increased collaboration between British and Indian universities on important research in areas such as health, emerging technologies and climate science. The two also agreed to share security in all its forms, work in lockstep to counter threats. The UK’s Carrier Strike Group will visit India later this year to promote this work with both the Navy and Air Force conducting joint training exercises to enable future cooperation on operations in the western Indian Ocean.