British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accepted India’s invitation to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2021, in New Delhi. Calling India’s invitation as “very generous”, UK's Foreign Secretary said today that it will be “a great honour” for the country.
It will be Johnson’s first visit to India since he took his office last year.
UK has invited India to join the UK’s G7 summit next year.
On Tuesday, Downing Street announced that Johnson will visit India in January 2021 to extend a key diplomatic relationship which will support jobs and investment across the UK as part of his first significant bilateral visit since taking office, and the first since the UK’s departure from the EU.
Johnson will be the second UK prime minister to attend the Republic Day event as a guest of honour after John Major in 1993.
Mr Johnson in a statement said, "I am 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 (Narendra) Modi and I have pledged to achieve.”
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said the British PM's presence at the Republic Day celebrations "would be in a way symbolic of a new era, and a new phase of India-UK ties."
Boris Johnson has also invited PM Modi to join the G7 summit next year in Britain, said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab; India would be one of the three guest countries. Mr Raab reached Delhi this morning for a four-day India visit and was welcomed by the Foreign Minister.
"I'm pleased that PM Boris Johnson has invited PM Modi to join the UK-hosted G7 summit next year. The British PM has also accepted the very generous invitation to attend India's Republic Day celebrations in January, which is a great honour," he said this afternoon.
"The UK Foreign Secretary comes at a very important time because we are looking at a post-COVID world and also looking at a post-Brexit world from the perspective of the UK. This is the right time for us to hold discussions," S Jaishankar said on Dominic Raab's visit.
The British PM "will use his visit to India to boost 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," his office said.
The invitation from Modi is tactical and timely as the transition period for Brexit ends on December 31 and it's almost certain that the UK will go for a 'hard Brexit' - a clean break from Europe which will entail Britain giving up membership of the EU's single market, allowing it to trade freely with EU members without restrictions.
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The hard Brexit is likely to disrupt UK's economy, which even after four years of the Brexit vote, is for most practical purposes still functioning as part of the EU. To reduce the adverse effects of economic disruption, the UK has been looking for trading opportunities elsewhere.
Prime Minister Johnson has offered a free trade agreement with India, given its huge market. Johnson's visit to New Delhi next month will be significant for trade negotiations between the two countries.