Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three day visit to London from November 12-14, is about reinventing strategic ties with the UK that has shared interest with India on democracy, economic liberalisation, trade and security issues. (EXCLUSIVE- Inside Air India One: The jet setter PM’s home in the skies)
The visit was also long overdue and Indian Prime Minister Modi and David Cameron will take their personal chemistry to a new level. Cameron will host Modi at his country residence Chequers and the Queen of England will host him for lunch as a special gesture.
On November 12 Modi has a whirl wind schedule. This is PM Modi’s maiden visit to the country and it is also the first tour by an Indian Prime Minister in about a decade.
Over the last 10 years, four prime ministers from the UK have travelled to India-Gordon Brown in 2008 and current Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010 and 2013.
The timing of PM’s tour is significant owing to the fact that both Britain and India are currently on an impressive economic growth trajectory. Political bigwigs, bureaucrats and business honchos from across the world are closely following Modi’s visit to UK. The visit comes close on the heels of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and there are comparisons being drawn to this visit, but like his previous visits optics will be high on the agenda as Modi addresses a high voltage crowd of about 60,000 people in the Wembley stadium.
A day before embarking on his 3 day tour, PM Modi took to the Twitter stated that he is looking forward to strengthening the economic ties between the two nations.
Leaving for UK. I am hopeful this visit will strengthen economic ties between India and UK & bring more investment to India. #makeinindia
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 12, 2015
Even his Britain counterpart, Cameron seemed to be excited and extended a warm welcome to him describing PM Modi’s visit as “extraordinary”.
Welcome to the UK @narendramodi from Britain's Indian community #ModiInUK
https://t.co/5hrlplmx4Q
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) November 12, 2015
Here’s a quick check on PM Modi’s itinerary for the 3 day visit:
What’s Modi’s Mission London?
Development partnership, defence, security, energy, climate change and economic ties are high on PM Modi’s agenda during his 3 day London visit.
PM Modi will also have a ‘Madison’ like moment at London’s Wembley stadium where he is expected to address a crowd of 60,000 people. This will be the Modi connect with the strong Indian diaspora in the UK with strong diplomatic optics surrounding the visit.
Terrorism will be high on the agenda of the visit and New Delhi has shared a list of over 17 properties for India’s most wanted Dawood Ibrahim. Sikh extremism is also on the agenda and discussions will focus on enhancing intelligence sharing and counter terror cooperation especially on terror groups like LeT and JeM based out of Pakistan.
Trade will be another unifier and India wants to go beyond the current trade figures of 18 billion and the two sides will aim to give a giant push to this relationship with a defence contract of over 15 billion with British aerospace getting a green flag during the visit.
(With inputs from Tuhina Ghoshal)