India’s multi-faceted bilateral relationship with the UK has intensified since its upgradation to a strategic partnership in 2004. The UK is an important interlocutor in the bilateral, EU, G8, regional and global contexts.

Recent High-level meetings

2. President Smt. Pratibha Patil was on a State visit to the UK from 26-29 October 2009, which was the third State visit of an Indian President to the UK.

3. There has been continuous exchange of visits at the level of Prime Minister. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visit to the UK from 19-20 September 2004 during the premiership of Tony Blair laid the foundation of a strategic partnership between India and UK. PM again visited the UK on 7-8 July 2005 for the “G-8 Plus 5” Gleneagles Summit. The then Prime Minister Tony Blair visited India on 6-8 September 2005 in his capacity as EU President for the EU/ India Summit on September 7, and also for the bilateral Summit held on September 8 in Udaipur. PM visited UK in October 2006 for the third annual India-UK Summit. This was followed by visit of PM Gordon Brown to India on January 21, 2008, when the two sides issued a joint statement on India-UK Strategic Partnership. Recent meetings between PM and PM Brown have been on the sidelines of multilateral events – they met in London on 1 April 2009 during the G 20 Summit; in L’Aquila in July 2009 on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit; in Pittsburgh on 25 September 2009 on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit; and in Trinidad and Tobago on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Summit on 27 November 2009.

Recent Foreign Minister level visits

4. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband was on a three-day visit to India from 13-15 January 2009. He called on the Prime Minister and met then EAM Shri Pranab Mukherjee. A meeting between EAM Shri S.M Krishna and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband took place in Trieste on 26 June 2009. EAM attended the Afghanistan Conference in London and met UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband on 27th January 2010 on the sidelines.

Other Ministerial exchanges

5. Ministerial exchanges between the two countries have intensified in recent times reflecting the growing engagement between India and UK. Prominent visits include those of Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Kamal Nath (27th January 2009), Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission   (12-14 March 2009); Sh. Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, accompanied by a high-level CII delegation of CEOs (21 to 24 June 2009 and 17-18 September 2009); Minister of Finance Shri Pranab Mukherjee (4-5 September 2009 & 6-7 November 2009); Minister for Road Transport & Highways Shri Kamal Nath (1-2 September 2009); Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Murli Deora (8-9 September 2009); Chief Justice of India Dr. K.S. Balakrishnan (13-15 June 2009); Minister for Law & Justice Shri Veerappa Moily (29 September-2 October 2009);  Minister of Tourism, Km. Selja (9 - 12 November 2009);  Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development (12-16 January 2010); Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India (25 – 27 January, 2010);  Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Kamal Nath (1-2 February, 2010);  Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Anand Sharma (4 February 2010) and Minister of Home Affairs Sh. P. Chidambaram (21-23 March 2010).     

6. From the UK side, Foreign Minister David Miliband visited Indian from 13-15 January 2009. Other visits include Secretary of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Peter Mandelson in January 2009. Lord Bach, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Ministry of Justice visited India in 23-28 August 2009;  Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Climate Change jointly visited India on 1-2 September 2009; Lord Mervyn Davies, Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Foreign and Commonwealth Office visited India from 14 to 18 September 2009; Lord Hunt, Minister of State for Climate Change visited India on 22-23 October, Quentin Davies, Minister for Defence Equipment & Support visited India from 26-27 November 2009.   Lord Peter Mandelson, First Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills visited India from 18-23 December 2009.  Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, Pat McFadden visited India from 13-17 February 2010.  

Parliamentary Exchanges

7. Parliamentary linkages have been strengthened through regular visits. All three Friends of India Groups (Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) from UK Parliament have undertaken regular visits to India and exchanges have also taken place under the banner of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. All Party Parliamentary Group on India and All Party Parliamentary Group on Trade and Industry with India are important vehicles for our interaction with UK Parliament.

Bilateral mechanisms for political consultations

8. The mechanism of Foreign Office Consultations has been established and the last round of FOC was held in New Delhi on 8 March 2010.   The last Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Strategic Dialogue was held on 2-3 December 2008 in New Delhi. 

India-UK civil nuclear cooperation

9. India and UK signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement on 11 February 2010.   The pact is expected to provide a legal framework for British companies to export components and products and be part of the supply chain for reactor design in India.

Economic and Commercial Relations

10. The UK is among India’s major trading partners. India’s exports to UK in 2008-09  was USD 6.649 billion and imports from UK stood at USD 5.872 billion.  UK is the 4th largest inward investor into India, after Mauritius, Singapore and the USA. The UK’s share is about 5% of the total FDI in rupee terms. The cumulative total of UK’s FDI equity in India till November 2009 stood at USD 5.596 billion. The UK is one of the world’s most attractive destinations for foreign investment and the top investment destination in Europe.  More than 500 Indian companies are based in the UK.  India is the second largest foreign investor in London, after the US, with Indian-owned businesses generating more than £14.4 billion (US$ 23 billion).

11. An India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was set up in 2005 to tackle trade and investment barriers on both sides and promote business links. The 6th JETCO meeting was held in London on 4 February 2010.  

Education and Science & Technology

12. India is the second largest source of students studying in UK and the number of Indian students in UK is approximately 31,000. Over 14 UK Universities have opened full-time offices in India.  The bilateral cooperation in the education sector got a platform with the setting up of India-UK Education Forum. Sh. Kapil Sibal, Human Resource Development Minister, visited London from 13-15 January 2010 to discuss education issues and for the second meeting of India-UK Education Forum. . During the visit, MoUs were signed between IIT Punjab and IISER, Pune with UK institutions. A Round Table Meeting of Hon’ble Minister with UK Vice-Chancellors was also held.

13. Cooperation in Science & Technology was given a new orientation with the setting up of the ‘Science and Innovation Council’.  UK Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills Mr. Pat McFadden’s visit to India from February 13-17, 2010 has given impetus to the bilateral S&T cooperation. During McFadden’s visit India-UK Science and Innovation Council also held its meeting. The two sides announced two multi-million pound research programmes to develop cost-effective and efficient solar energy solutions.

Tourism & Culture

14. The UK ranks number two in the world in terms of UK tourists visiting India.  India received 521,000 tourists from the UK in 2008. Around 500,000 Indians visit UK every year.

15. The Nehru Centre is the cultural outreach of the High Commission of India in UK. Indian art and culture has been showcased in London through some important exhibitions/shows/performances in recent months.

Indian community

16. There are around 2 million people of Indian origin in UK accounting for the single largest segment of ethnic population. Seven Non Resident Indian youths have made it to a list of the most successful young millionaire entrepreneurs in UK. The present Parliament has five MPs of Indian origin and twenty Peers in the House of Lords. In addition, there are over 150 Indian origin Councillors in Councils across UK.

(31 March 2010)