UK: India, UK hold first ‘2+2’ ahead of possible Rishi Sunak visit | India News

NEW DELHI: India and the United Kingdom held their inaugural ‘2+2’ foreign and defence dialogue on Monday, ahead of a possible visit by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later this month, looking to ramp up defence, security and trade ties. The two sides are currently also engaged in discussions to iron out the remaining differences over a free trade agreement that they hope to finalise before Sunak’s visit.

The British prime minister’s visit to India last month for the G20 summit also saw on the margins a bilateral meeting between Sunak and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which the leaders reaffirmed their joint commitment to a balanced, mutually beneficial and forward looking FTA.Conducted at the level of senior officials, the 2+2 dialogue is a mechanism to discuss and review all aspects of the India-UK comprehensive strategic partnership, said the government.
In the talks on Monday, both sides expressed satisfaction at the regular high level political exchanges and interactions which have provided guidance and momentum to India-UK multi-faceted ties.

“They expressed happiness on the progress made in diverse areas of India-UK Roadmap 2030 including political exchanges, economic cooperation, defence and security, people to people ties, as well as regional and multilateral cooperation,” said the government in a statement.

“The officials had an opportunity to exchange assessments about recent international developments including in the Indo-Pacific region, given their shared vision for peace, stability and prosperity and for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. They also considered the possibility of enhancing collaboration in areas of counter-terrorism, HADR (high availability disaster recovery) and maritime security,” said the government.