Firm on reinvigorating the India-UK ties, UK Foreign Secretary visited India last year December to lay ground after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted India’s invitation to be Guest of Honour for the Republic Day Celebrations. He announced about “Enhanced Trade Partnership” on cards. Escalation of the pandemic forced the cancellation and hindered Johnson’s biggest post-Brexit outreach. His visit which was re-scheduled for April 25th was stalled after UK added India to Red List owing to grim pandemic situation. Overcoming the corona jinx, leaders held a virtual summit on May 4th.
The pandemic hasn’t dimmed the spirits. On the contrary, it
has become one of the prime pillars of cooperation. Galvanised by the
successful production of Covid vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca in India
by Serum Institute, leaders have agreed to prioritise collaboration through
Joint Working Group on Health and Life Sciences and agreed to establish frame
work of cooperation- India-UK Action Plan of Health and Life Sciences. As a
good will gesture, as a token of friendship, in response to the ravaging pandemic,
UK rushed Covid supplies to India ahead of the virtual summit.
Engaged in a strategic partnership since 2004, India and UK
have now elevated the relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and
launched the “Roadmap 2030, India-UK Future Relations” to nurture strategic
convergences in sync with the realities of the global challenges. Ambitious Road
map, instituted to serve as a guide for multi-faceted ties for a period of 10
years proposed an upgrade of institutional mechanisms. This will include annual
review of implementation by the Foreign Ministers, Economics and Financial
Dialogue, Economic and Trade Dialogue and Strategic Dialogue besides the
regular biennial Summit meets.
For long, the Indo-UK ties lagged behind as compared to New
Delhi’s ties with other western countries. Perceptions through the colonial
prism, inherent anti-India biases, colonial prejudices and the Britain’s
Pakistan’s tilt have abraded Indo-UK relations. Currently the 1.6 million Brits
of Indian Origin population and account for 6% of the GDP is serving as a “dynamic
living bridge” between both countries.
Putting rest to all the inherent biases and the recent trend
of inter-regional conflicts in South Asian turning into guiding factors of the
Britain’s foreign policy calculus, Johnson reiterated strong intent to deepen
bilateral ties. In an interview to TOI1, Johnson stated that
he is looking for “a relationship that is much greater than the sum of its
part” over the next decade. He added, “the UK-India relationship is a modern
partnership of equals”. By infusing new trust, Johnson has certainly attempted
to harness the potential of shared values of both countries for global good.
Guided by the strong political will of Modi and Johnson,
leaders have charted a framework to expand the breadth of multi-faceted strategic
partnership in science, education, research, innovation, space, ICT and
industrial collaboration.
Driven by post-Brexit economic challenges and 10% increase in
bilateral trade in 20192 to 24 billion GBP leaders announced
ETP to unlock the economic potential of cooperation for the private companies. India
is the second largest FDI source in UK after US and UK is second fastest
growing G-20 investors in India. UK moved out of EU and India refused to join
China centered-RCEP are eager to step up economic partnership.
The ETP will lay ground for negotiations of a comprehensive
free trade agreement and plans to reach scoping phase of FTA before the end of
20213. Setting an ambitious target of doubling the bilateral
trade by 2030, countries will now work towards removing market access barriers
through the Joint Working Group on Trade.
Among the biggest outcomes of the summit has been the
decision to deepen defence and security cooperation and finalisation of the new
logistics MoU. Under Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP)
unveiled in 2015, India and UK resolved to expand and enhance cooperation in
cyber, defence and maritime collaboration and also support for “Make in India”
initiative. UK has decided to determine as how it can help India’s Indigenous Light
Combat Air MK2 program under Combat Air Collaboration.
India has recently raised FDI cap in defence to 74% and UK is
keen on exploring tremendous opportunities in defence cooperation discussed
about collaboration on key military technologies in combat aircraft, maritime
propulsion systems.
To strengthen operational coordination during the deployment
of UK’s Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group later this year, countries agreed
to hold joint exercises. India has agreed to inviting UK’s Liaison officer to
India’s Information Fusion Centre4. Under the new maritime dialogue, India and UK
besides promoting freedom of navigation, open access will enhance maritime
cooperation through Grey and Whitewater shipping information sharing.
In March, UK has released an Integrated Review of Security,
Defence, Development and Foreign which underscored the importance of
Indo-Pacific for UK’s security. Partnership with India, a vital pillar of
Indo-Pacific is thus indispensable for UK to realise its strategic aspirations
in the region. Championing the idea of Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), India
is engaging with its partners in the region through Indo-Pacific Oceans
Initiative (IPOI) to maintain peace stability and safety. UK is now exploring
the potential for cooperation under IPOI. UK is now the fourth European Country
to have announced Indo-Pacific agenda.
Owing to India’s reputation as world leader of Climate
Action, UK espoused interest to work with New Delhi on climate change and low
carbon transmission through a new partnership in renewables and green hydrogen.
Both countries have agreed to launch India-UK Partnership on Forests, announce
Green Grids Initiative at the UN Climate Summit COP-26 and to promote climate
resilient infrastructure through a new facility for Small Island Developing
States under Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
Countries have signed Migration Mobility Partnership (MMP)
that will facilitate legal migration of skilled professionals aged 18-30 and in
return India has agreed to take back illegitimate migrants in UK. Migration has
been one of the major irritants in Indo-UK ties and Theresa May’s restrictive
policy on immigration rankled Indians and underwhelmed her visit to India in
2016. A friendly Visa regime of Johnson is bound to instil more trust and boost
trade ties.
Countries signed Nine MoUs which included a declaration for
launch of ETP, Global Innovation Partnership, Migration and Mobility
Partnership, fields of Digital and technology, ICT, Customs Cooperation, India
Energy Security Scenario Calculator, medical products regulation and
pharmacopeial cooperation5.
After the conclusion of summit meet, Johnson tweeted, “the UK
and India share many fundamental values. The UK is one of the oldest
democracies, and India is the World’s largest. We are both committed members of
the Commonwealth. And there is a living bridge uniting the people of our countries”.
“In the last week, the British people have stepped up in
their thousands to support our Indian friends during this terrible time in a
demonstration of the deep connection between the UK and India”, he said. “This
connection will only grow over the next decade as we do more together to tackle
the World’s biggest problems and make life better for our people. The
agreements we have made today mark the beginning of a new era in the UK-India
relationship”6.
Modi tweeted, “Had a productive Virtual Summit with my friend
UK PM Boris Johnson. We adopted an ambitious Roadmap 2030 for elevating
India-UK ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”6.
India-UK summit has come at a strategic juncture when UK has
grown wary of China’s stifling of Hongkong’s autonomy, designation the Uighur
containment as genocide has decided to remove Huawei 5G by 2027. China’s
inimical global ambitions are yet another reason why UK and even European
countries are looking up to India. Besides India’s huge market potential,
demography, New Delhi has been consistently repelling Beijing’s offensive.
Amid the geopolitical and strategic geo-economic
realignments, India and UK displayed new dynamism to transform and revive ties
mired in prejudices. Underscoring the importance of multipolar word, a
coalition of middle countries is coming up to belie fears of a return of Cold
war era. Addressing mobility and trade, the two major bottlenecks, Modi and
Johnson infused new energy by laying down mutually beneficial terms of
endearment. A stable economic partnership is indispensable to weather
politically motivated discontentment. By prioritising trade and finding common
ground on various global challenges, leaders have revitalised the trajectory of
India-UK ties.
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