Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May on Monday pledged to extend cooperation in trade and green energy.
Ms. May said she wanted Britain to become a global standard bearer of free trade, saying more investment and fewer barriers to trade between it and India would boost prosperity. “We want Britain to be the most committed and passionate advocate of free trade in the world.”
India and the U.K. must help each other break down barriers. "We are helping India improve its ease of doing business but I am determined to go further," she said at the inaugural of an India-U.K. Tech Summit here.
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Ms. May elaborated on the reasons for choosing India as her first destination for a bilateral visit. "I chose India...because of the special partnership between our countries."
Mr. Modi said the India-U.K. bilateral trade has remained the same in the last five years and India was the third-largest investor in the U.K. He asserted that 'Make in India' would be a key aspect in the cooperation, saying, "science is universal, but technology must be local."
Science, technology and innovation have a significant role in India’s bilateral engagement with the U.K. “To boost entrepreneurship, science and technology is very important. Science, technology and innovation has a very significant role in our relationship,” he said.
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Mr. Modi announced a India-UK clean energy R&D centre that would be set up with a 10 million pound investment corpus.
(With inputs from Reuters)