David Lammy begins four-day visit to ‘reset’ UK-India relationship
British foreign secretary David Lammy arrived in India for a four-day visit to “reset” economic, domestic, and security ties.
This is the first high-level tour to the country by a representative of the UK’s newly-elected Labour government.
The British Foreign Office said Mr Lammy is aiming to “unlock the full potential of the UK-India partnership” and reinforce the commitment to securing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which has hit a roadblock as negotiations have dragged on for two years.
Mr Lammy’s visit has raised hopes for a fresh push to the FTA negotiations that would double trade to £86bn by 2030. However, the deal remains frozen in the final stages after some 14 rounds of talks under the previous Conservative government.
Mr Lammy will meet Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar and commerce minister Piyush Goyal. He is also likely to meet Indian prime minister Narendra Modi although it is yet to be confirmed.
Ahead of his visit, Mr Lammy said: "Our free trade agreement negotiations are the floor not the ceiling of our ambitions to unlock our shared potential and deliver growth, from Bengaluru to Birmingham. We have shared interests in the green transition, new technologies, economic security and global security.
"I am travelling to India in my first month as Foreign Secretary because resetting our relationship with the global south is a key part of how this government will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home."
Most FTA negotiations were finished in the previous Rishi Sunak government but were put on hold earlier this year as both countries were heading into general elections. Negotiations on tough topics such as business mobility, tariffs, and market access for certain goods continue to remain unresolved, according to reports.
Britain is seeking the trade deal with India which has the potential to grant more favourable access for British companies to a market of 1.4 billion people.
Mr Lammy will also seek to rally support of India for stronger action on the climate crisis and discuss Indian-led global initiatives to build clean power access and climate resilience in the global south and small island states.
The foreign secretary will underscore the importance of the “living bridge” between the UK and India, a reference to the 1.7 million Indian-origin people who live in the UK.
India is expected to again raise with Mr Lammy its concerns about the activities of Sikh activists operating in the UK. Dubbed the Khalistan Movement, its members advocate for the creation of a separate nation for Sikhs in what is currently India’s Punjab state. The Indian foreign ministry issued a diplomatic protest with London last year after supporters of the movement pulled down the Indian flag at the country’s High Commission in London.
The issue of long-pending extradition cases against business tycoons Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, who live in the UK and are wanted for alleged financial crimes in India, will also be discussed, according to reports.
And Mr Lammy is expected to raise the issue of imprisonment of two British nationals: Jagtar Singh Johal, who was arrested in 2017 on terrorism charges, and Christian Michel, who was extradited from UAE to India in 2017 in an alleged scam.
Government officials, the UN and human rights groups have previously accused India of torture and arbitrary detention without trial in relation to the two cases.
The visit is a stopover for Mr Lammy before he heads to Laos to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the ASEAN group of nations.
As India and the UK struggled to iron out the details of the FTA, the Narendra Modi government last year instead signed a landmark deal with four European nations that it claims will result in $100bn (£78bn) of investment in the country.
The agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (Efta) bloc of non-EU nations – Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein – was concluded after 16 years of negotiations.
