‘UK views India as key partner post Brexit'

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s acceptance of PM Narendra Modi’s invitation to be guest of honour at India’s Republic Day is a significant move demonstrating that Britain views India as a key strategic partner in a post-Brexit post-pandemic world.
The trip will be the UK PM’s first major bilateral visit since taking office, the first since the UK’s departure from the EU on January 31 and the first since the end of the transition period on December 31.
Johnson will become the second British leader to attend the Republic Day parade, after ex-PM John Major in 1993.
Johnson said, “I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister Modi and I have pledged to achieve. As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the UK as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet.”
As to why Johnson chose India for his first major bilateral visit, a Downing Street spokesperson told TOI, “India is an important strategic partner in the region and an increasingly indispensable partner for the UK as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet."
Aaditya Dave, research analyst at RUSI, a defence and security studies think tank, said, “With the UK initiating an Indo-Pacific tilt in its foreign policy, India is likely to be viewed as a crucial strategic partner. The economic and people-to-people foundations of the relationship are being added to by a growing alignment between New Delhi and London in their outlook towards China as well as deepening cooperation on Covid response and climate change measures.”
In 2021, the UK will host the G7 Leaders’ Meeting and the COP26 Summit. Johnson has invited Modi to attend the G7 Summit as one of three guest nations alongside South Korea and Australia.
Kevin McCole, managing director of the UK India Business Council, said, “It’s striking and absolutely appropriate that this will be Johnson’s first bilateral visit since Brexit and since he became PM. He’s the third UK PM in a row to make India their first destination, reinforcing just how important India is to the UK. As we exit a tough 2020, this visit will start 2021 in a hugely positive way.”
Kapil Dudakia, a UK-based political analyst, said, “The PM’s visit to India sends a powerful message globally. India is emerging as a global giant, and the UK is now in post-Brexit mode, these two nations with so much history between them stand on the cusp of redefining a relationship that can be of mutual benefit and fit for the 21st century.”