NSA Doval to meet PM Sunak: In a major development, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will hold crucial talks with the top UK leadership including his counterpart, Sir Tim Barrow on Saturday. Notably, this came nearly five days after Doval held a meeting with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan on the first high-level dialogue on Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).
According to the microblogging post of the High Commission of India in London, NSA Doval will also meet Indian-origin UK Premiere Rishi Sunak at the centre of the UK government. It said that India always maintained a valuable partnership in trade, defence and other research and development and added it would like to continue the same momentum.
"A special gesture by PM @rishisunak to join for a while India UK NSA dialogue between Sir Tim Barrow & Mr Doval at @cabinetofficeuk. Deeply value PM's assurance of his Govts full support to deepen strategic partnership in trade, defence, and S&T. Look forward to the visit of Sir Tim to India soon," India in the UK tweeted on Saturday.
India-UK relations
Notably, earlier in September last year, Barrow was chosen to serve as the National Security Adviser of the UK. Barrow was once the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's (FCDO) Political Director and Second Permanent Under-Secretary, according to the official website of the Government of the UK. The ties between India and the UK are often described as a Living Bridge, a dynamic economic force of people, businesses and ideas.
India and the United Kingdom (UK) share a comprehensive strategic partnership with each other. The two nations have also concluded six rounds of negotiations for a trade deal and will begin the next round very soon. Notably, India and UK began the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations in January 2022. The UK-India free trade agreement is well-advanced. Although trade at the moment is worth 29.6 billion pounds, India is only the 12th largest trading partner of the UK.
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