New Delhi: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will undertake a two-day visit to India next week in his first trip to the country since he assumed charge of the top office in July last year. Starmer’s visit to India from October 8 to 9 will provide a “valuable opportunity” to reaffirm the shared vision of India and the UK to build a forward-looking partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday. Starmer will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 9 in Mumbai. The two prime ministers will take stock of progress in diverse aspects of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in line with ‘Vision 2035’, a focussed and time bound 10-year Roadmap of programmes and initiatives, the MEA said in a readout.
“Both leaders will engage with businesses and industry leaders on opportunities presented by the India’UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as a central pillar of the future India’UK economic partnership,” it said. India and the UK signed the landmark free trade pact during Modi’s visit to London in July. The trade deal provides for increase in market access, slashing tariffs on British whisky and cars among other items and double bilateral trade by 2030.