- Visit aims to strengthen partnership on trade and investment,
health and climate change
- PM invites India to join the UK’s G7 Summit next year as one
of three guest countries
- First PM since John Major to attend annual Republic Day event
as Guest of Honour
Prime Minister will travel to India in January 2021 to strengthen a
key strategic relationship which supports jobs and investment
across the UK.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first major bilateral visit
since taking office, and the first since our departure from the
EU, and underlines his commitment to step up the UK’s engagement
with the Indo-Pacific region.
The trip in January will kick off a significant year for Global
Britain on the world stage. In 2021, the UK will host both the G7
Leaders’ Meeting and COP26 Summits, as well as a global education
conference aimed at getting girls into school, and an event to
mark the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in London in
1946.
The Prime Minister has written to Prime Minister Modi to accept
his invitation, and to invite India to attend the UK’s G7 Summit
as one of three guest nations alongside South Korea and Australia
– delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition to work with a group
of like-minded democracies to advance shared interests and tackle
common challenges.
The Prime Minister will use his visit to India to boost our
cooperation in areas that matter to the UK and that will be
priorities for our international engagement throughout 2021 –
from trade and investment, to defence and security, and health
and climate change.
The UK and India are significant investors and markets for each
other’s economies and our growing trade and investment
relationship is worth around £24 billion a year, supporting more
than half a million jobs.
There are 842 Indian companies in the UK with a combined turnover
of £41.2 billion, creating jobs in all four corners of the United
Kingdom.
That includes 19,500 people employed by Tata Consulting Services
at sites including Peterborough, Liverpool, and Edinburgh; around
5,700 people in Warrington, Derby, Cardiff, Derry/Londonderry and
Belfast working for business support firm Firstsource Solutions –
which is soon to open a new office in Middlesbrough; and 1,200
people employed by Accord Healthcare Ltd in Newcastle and
Barnstaple to manufacture and supply medicines to the NHS.
Prime Minister 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 United Kingdom as we
work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our
security and protect our planet.”
As the ‘pharmacy of the world’ India supplies more than 50% of
the world’s vaccines, with over a billion doses of the UK’s
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured at India’s Serum
Institute in Pune.
Our countries have cooperated closely throughout the coronavirus
outbreak to maintain the flow of medical goods for our citizens.
The UK has received 11 million face masks and 3 million packets
of paracetamol from India during the pandemic, and we continue to
work together to keep vital supply chains open.
There are more than 400 British companies in India, including
those at the forefront of our collaboration to tackle climate
change. Our partnership is creating jobs and opportunities for UK
firms in areas such as renewable energy and electric vehicles, as
our countries work together to reduce global emissions ahead of
next year’s COP26 Summit in Glasgow.
During the visit, the Prime Minister will be only the second
British leader since Indian independence to attend India’s annual
Republic Day parade in New Delhi as Guest of Honour, after John
Major in 1993.
Notes to Editors
