A Downing Street spokesperson said:
“This morning the Prime Minister welcomed Prime Minister Modi of
India to Downing Street for bilateral talks. The Prime Minister
and Prime Minister Modi discussed the chemical weapons attacks in
Salisbury and Syria, expressing concern and making clear their
opposition to the use of chemical weapons by any party in any
circumstances.
“The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s position on Russia’s
recent destabilising behaviour, underlined by the attack in
Salisbury and the protection provided for the Syrian regime’s
repeated use of chemical weapons against its people.
“The leaders discussed their shared priorities in the
Indo-Pacific and committed to working more closely together to
ensure it remained free and open.
“They reflected on the progress made on bilateral defence and
security cooperation since the Prime Minister’s visit to India in
2016 and the agreement to a number of Defence Capability
Partnerships in key strategic areas, with closer
military-to-military ties underpinned by a succession of high
level visits and exchanges. They agreed to continue working
together closely to combat terrorism, radicalisation and online
extremism.
“They also discussed co-operation between the two countries on
legal matters. Mrs May welcomed the return to the UK of the
Chennai Six.
“The Prime Minister updated Prime Minister Modi on the progress
of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, saying the implementation
period agreed in March gives Indian companies and investors the
confidence that market access will continue on current terms
until the end of 2020.
“She reiterated that the UK will remain committed to global free
trade and investment and that the UK will remain a leading hub
for global finance. Prime Minister Modi said there would be no
dilution in the importance of the UK to India post-Brexit. He
said the City of London was of great importance to India for
accessing the global markets and would remain so.
“The two leaders said trade between the UK and India had grown
strongly over the last year and Prime Minister Modi said
that Brexit offers opportunities to further increase trade
ties.
“The Prime Ministers welcomed the £1 billion of commercial deals
which has been agreed today. They agreed to build on the
recommendations of the UK-India Joint Trade Review to reduce
barriers to trade, to make it easier to do business in both
countries and enable a stronger bilateral trade relationship for
the future.
“Looking to the future the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Modi
discussed the new UK-India Tech Partnership agreed today which
will create thousands of jobs and generate significant investment
in both our economies. The Prime Minister said the Partnership
will be at the core of much that we’ll do together over the next
decade.
“Finally they looked forward to the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting tomorrow and agreed on the importance of
working together to build a more sustainable, prosperous, secure
and fairer future for all Commonwealth citizens.”
