PM Modi to explore more avenues of economic co-operation during UK visit

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sets off on a three-day visit to Britain beginning Thursday with a focus on boosting ties in trade and investment, defence and energy sectors besides enhancing cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism.

Ahead of the visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in almost a decade, Modi said he will explore avenues of "more effective" economic cooperation with the UK, one of the fastest growing G-7 economies and home to a strong financial services sector.

The Prime Minister's packed schedule in London include a lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, an honour usually only accorded to heads of state, and an address at the British Parliament. He will also speak at a sell-out event at the Wembley stadium, expected to be attended by around 60,000 people from the Indian diaspora.

Modi will have wide-ranging talks with his counterpart David Cameron and both sides are likely to sign a number of agreements. Both sides are likely to come out with three separate "outcome documents" on development partnership, defence and security, and on energy and climate change, listing initiatives to boost ties in these areas.

There may be a vision statement on overall ties, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told reporters, briefing on the visit. He said Cameron will accompany Modi on most of the occasions.

"My visit is aimed at strengthening cooperation with a traditional friend that is not only a major economic partner of India but also one of the leading economic players of the world. India and UK are two vibrant democracies, which are proud of their diversity and multicultural societies," Modi said in a Facebook post.

Jaishankar said boosting economic ties will be a major focus area, besides enhancing ties in defence and clean energy sector. Modi will interact with CEOs at a roundtable in London where he will list various initiatives to ensure ease of doing business in India. Modi will also visit Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover factory at Solihull.

"My message to the business community is clear -- come, make use of the opportunities India is offering and invest in India," Modi said.

Modi said expanding bilateral defence cooperation will be another focus area. "We have traditionally been cooperating extensively on defence and security issues and this visit will build on strong ties. Defence manufacturing will be a prime focus in my talks," he said.

Modi and Cameron will hold talks at 10 Downing Street, the headquarters of the executive branch of the British government, and at the Chequers, the residence of the British Prime Minister during which they will deliberate on "lot of political and security" related issues besides exploring ways to boost bilateral ties, said Jaishankar.

On November 13, Modi will address the Indian diaspora at Wembley Stadium. UK is home to around 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora, which is around 2 per cent of the UK's population.

During his tight schedule, the Prime Minister will visit the place where B R Ambedkar lived during his stay in London between 1921-22. On November 14, he will unveil a statue of Basaveshwara, a scholar and philosopher known for his contribution to India's culture and tradition.

Modi will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue near the British Parliament during which we expect a flypast with India's national colours, Jaishankar said.

He said stepping up engagement with a powerful country like UK, which is permanent member of UN Security Council and powerful groupings like G8, G 20, NATO, OECD and export control regimes, was important for India.

He said both sides may also talk about the cooperation in the civilian nuclear cooperation. During the visit of Cameron to India in February 2013, it was agreed to commence negotiations on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

Jaishankar said investment and economic aspect of the visit will be very important.

FDI from UK to India has been around USD 22 billion while India's investment in that country is around USD 500-600 million. UK is among India's major trading partners. Despite the continuing global economic slowdown and the Eurozone crisis, India-UK bilateral trade has witnessed resilience.

A number of business agreements will be signed during the visit, said Jaishankar, adding government's efforts to ease doing of business will be highlighted.

Asked to compare UK's relations with China and welcome accorded by it to Chinese President Xi Jinping in London recently, he refused to compare saying it is a different relations with different perspective.

The Prime Minister will leave for Turkey from UK on November 14 to attend the G20 Summit.