To Boris Johnsons, April 26 visit to unlock opportunities, a trade pact on the table

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to launch a new trade pact when he visits India on April 26, his first major international visit after the UK leaves the European Union. Johnsons visit to New Delhi – the UK has indicated it would also like to visit Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai – underscores the importance of the Indo-Pacific region which the UK says is essential for our economy and security.

The British Prime Minister’s route to India has yet to be finalized, a senior government official said, stressing that Boris Johnson was keen to visit all four cities after making formal commitments in New Delhi on April 26.

Johnson, who spoke warmly of Prime Minister Modi at an international conference this week and praised his fantastic leadership, was due to be in the nation’s capital as the main guest at the Republic Day parade in January. But he had to cancel the trip at the last minute after a new strain of the Sars-CoV-2 virus led to an outbreak of coronavirus cases in his country.

PM Johnson, who was down with Covid-19 last year, received the first dose of the vaccine on Friday. The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer headquartered in Pune, one of four cities on its route.

Indo-Pacific pivot

The official confirmation this week of Boris Johnsons’ visit to India coincides with the recalibration of his country’s foreign and defense policy towards the Indo-Pacific region. India, along with other Asian powers such as Japan and South Korea, is a key player in the recalculation of British foreign policy.

The region is already essential to our economy and our security; is a focal point for the negotiation of international laws, rules and standards; and will become more important to UK prosperity over the next decade, the UK said in its comprehensive security, defense, development and foreign policy review, the most comprehensive since the end of the cold war.

Boris Johnson had worked on this approach months in advance. Like when his government surveyed India, before Johnsons’ November 27 phone call with Prime Minister Modi, that he was ready to travel to Delhi to be the main guest of the Republic Day parade .

Or when his government announced in December that it would send its largest warship, the 65,000-ton HMS Queen Elizabeth, to the Indo-Pacific region on its first deployment in 2021. The review, which referenced to China’s growing assertion, noted that much of the UK’s trade with Asia relies on shipping that passes through a range of Indo-Pacific choke points.

Local media reports indicate that the 3 billion ( 27177 crore) Royal Navy aircraft carrier, capable of carrying up to 40 combat aircraft, spent much of that week at an ammunition jetty in western Scotland loading operational stores to prepare for this deployment to the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and East Asia.

Commercial pact

In addition to cementing the Indo-Pacific pivot, officials said trade will likely remain a focal point in Boris Johnsons’ Brexit talks.

Britain is keen to deepen economic ties with India, the UK’s second-largest investor, and is trying to persuade New Delhi to enter into a two-step free trade agreement. India is the UK’s sixth largest trading partner outside the European Union. In 2019-2020, bilateral trade between the UK and India grew by more than 11% to almost £ 24 billion. The UK was the largest European market for exports of Indian goods in fiscal year 2019-2020.

Officials said a strengthened trade partnership between the two countries, discussed in February at ministerial level, would be launched during Johnsons’ trip to India. “We have taken steps to remove barriers to trade and the hope is that a strengthened trade partnership will lead in the future to a positive free trade agreement (FTA) with India, Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of Commonwealth in Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development Office, said in January. “The ultimate goal is an FTA.

The two sides are also expected to try to finalize trade pacts in areas such as pharmaceuticals, fintech, chemicals, petroleum and food products, described by officials as early harvest deals, to kick things off. inch to bilateral trade.

PM Modi and PM Johnson are also expected to talk about cooperation in science and technology, health and the G7 summit to be held in Cornwalls Carbis Bay in June. PM Modi, along with the leaders of Australia and South Korea, has been invited to this year’s summit as guests. The UK, US, Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan form the G7.

The Serum Institute of India is one of the main suppliers of the coronavirus

A delayed shipment of AstraZeneca Plcs Covid-19 vaccine from India is causing a reduction in UK supply from the end of the month, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Change of approach but …

Indian officials point out that there has been a noticeable change in London’s attitude towards New Delhi under the Boris Johnson administration, particularly in the context of India’s concerns over terrorism, security and interference in its internal affairs. This change in approach came, an Indian official said, when Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla briefed his British counterpart last November of Indian concerns about terror emanating from Pakistan. Or when Britain’s Homeland Secretary Priti Patel let New Delhi know that London would not allow a repeat of the anti-CAA protests.

But New Delhi was shocked when lawmakers engaged in a debate over agricultural laws and criticized the Indian government due to pressure from large numbers of the Indian diaspora, many of whom were from the Punjab. New Delhi summoned British envoy Alex Ellis to protest what it called an unwarranted and biased debate in the British Parliament.

New Delhi is also concerned about the pace of extradition proceedings in the case of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya and diamond dealer Nirav Modi. Officials said India and Britain signed an extradition treaty in 1992. But so far only one extradition has taken place from the UK to India under that deal – Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India in October 2016 to stand trial in connection with his alleged involvement in the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Officials said Mallya and Nirav Modi, on the other hand, were all using legal and political tools to ensure they are not extradited.

The Indian government is also concerned about the continued efforts by MPs, much of their electorate from Pakistan-occupied Mirpur, Kashmir, to advance Islamabad’s agenda by claiming that human rights violations man in Jammu and Kashmir are targeting New Delhi.