Ahead of meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top Indian ministers on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and his colleague, Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne, said “good days” were coming for the Indo-British relationship.
Addressing a select gathering on Monday, which included industrialist Ratan Tata, Mr. Osborne said he could feel the “buzz” in the air and described Mr. Modi’s victory as “stunning”.
“It is a measure of the ambition and drive and pace of the new government of Prime Minister Modi, that this complete turn-around in sentiment about the Indian economy has been achieved in just seven short weeks…” Mr. Osborne stated.
And, the excitement here, the Chancellor felt, was matched by “new confidence among international investors abroad” in the future of the Indian economy.
Mr. Hague was of the view that the Modi’s government’s “bold programme” would allow India and the UK to build a “special partnership” as envisaged by Prime Minister David Cameron.
The visit by the Hague-Osborne duo comes close on the heels of visits by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
According to Mr. Hague, the importance of the Indo-UK relationship could be gauged by the fact that 50 British ministers had visited India in recent years.
While the Foreign Secretary said that there was no limit to “qualified” Indian students coming to the UK to study, there has been a steady drop in Indian students going to British universities. Between 2010-11 and 2011-12, there was a 23 per cent reduction in Indian students going to the UK.
Pointing out that the world was systemically less stable and predictable, Mr. Hague felt that India’s clout should be more “strongly felt” around the globe. The two countries, he said, had a vital interest in Afghan stability.
Mr. Osborne pointed out that JCB, which makes construction equipment, would be opening two new plants in Jaipur while Diageo, a premier drinks company, investing £1 billion in an Indian company.
IAF Contract
“In the last couple of days we have concluded a £250 million new deal to supply British defence equipment to the Indian Air Force, creating hundreds of jobs in the UK,” he said.
The Defence Ministry has signed a contract worth £250 million with MBDA UK for the supply of advanced short range air to air Missiles for the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Jaguar fleet.
The IAF will call the missile the “New Generation Close Combat Missile” (NGCCM), a British statement said.
The Mumbai-Bangalore economic corridor was another project in which the British were interested.
