India-U.K defence, Trade Ties to Get a Booster Shot

WHAT’S IN NEWS: 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson on his Indian visit, on Friday announced a slew of measures to boost defence and trade partnership between the two nations.

ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE BY BRITAIN PM:

• He called the relationship between the countries as  a ‘Beacon in stormy seas’ in the current context of international conflicts. 
• The two countries agreed on a new and expanded India-U.K defence partnership where they have decided to work together to meet new threats across land, sea, air space and cyber domains.
• The U.K will partner with India on new fighter jet technology.
• It will also help India in the maritime sphere to detect and respond to threats.
• The U.K will issue an Open General Export License (OGEL)  to support greater defence and security collaboration in the coming decade.
• The OGEL will reduce bureaucratic interference and shorten delivery time for India’s defence procurement.
• This is the first British OGEL in the Indo-Pacific region.
• On the trade front, he asked the negotiators to push for the India-U.K free trade agreement and get it done before Deepavali 2022.

PM MODI’S RESPONSE TO THE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• He welcomed U.K’s support for self-reliant India in manufacturing, technology, design and development
• He also emphasised on the importance of a free, open, inclusive and a rules based order in the Indo-Pacific and welcomed U.K’s decision to join Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative.
• The joint statement said that both leaders welcomed the finalisation of the India-UK Global Innovation Partnership (GIP) implementation arrangements in the field of trilateral development cooperation, wherein India and UK will co-finance up to USD 100 million over 14 years to support the transfer and scale up of climate-smart inclusive innovations from India to third countries in Asia, Africa and the Indo-Pacific and accelerate the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• This will prove to be very useful for our start-ups and MSME sector in exploring new markets, and in making their innovations global.”
• He also welcomed UK’s commitment to public finance to the tune of USD 1 billion investment through British International Investment (BII) (previously CDC Group), the UK’s Development Finance Institution, into climate related projects in India over the period 2022-2026.
• “They expressed satisfaction at the success of India-UK Green Growth Equity Fund anchored by India’s National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in mobilising additional USD 425 million to support green infrastructure projects in India, and agreed to build on ten years of successful collaboration under India-UK development capital investment partnerships. Prime Minister Modi welcomed the UK’s guarantee for USD 1 billion World Bank lending to support India to develop green infrastructure,”.

JOINT STATEMENT VIEWPOINTS:

The leaders welcomed the strong resilience shown by economies of India and the UK and the positive growth in bilateral trade showcasing the potential to double trade by 2030, as envisaged in the Roadmap 2030.

They expressed satisfaction at the progress made under the Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) and called for “early resolution of all pending market access issues in a balanced manner”.

They specifically highlighted the successful India-UK collaborations between GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, India’s first International Financial Service Centre) and the UK’s financial services ecosystem and agreed to develop greater linkages between the two countries’ financial markets. They noted the successful resolution of recent taxation issues as a positive step to further strengthen investor confidence on both sides.

The UK and India are launching a virtual Hydrogen Science and Innovation hub to accelerate affordable green hydrogen, as well as new funding for the Green Grids Initiative announced at COP26, and collaboration on joint work on the electrification of public transport across India.

The two governments are committing up to £75 million to roll out adaptable cleantech innovations from India to the wider Indo-Pacific and Africa, and working together on international development and girls education.

INDO-PACIFIC OCEANS INITIATIVE (IPOI):

The Australia-India Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Partnership (AIIPOIP) helps shape maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to support an open, inclusive, resilient, prosperous and rules-based maritime order. The IPOI also aligns with other bilateral arrangements, including Australia-India Maritime and 2+2 Dialogues, and with our cooperation with ASEAN under its Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

The Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 14th East Asia Summit on 4 November 2019 at Bangkok, has seven pillars:

1. Maritime Ecology
2. Maritime Security
3. Marine Resources
4. Capacity Building and Resource Sharing
5. Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
6. Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation
7. Trade, Connectivity and Maritime Transport