PM Modi, Theresa May agree to combat terrorism together
London, Apr 18 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met his UK counterpart Theresa May at Downing Street in London for bilateral talks.
May and Modi discussed the chemical weapons attacks in Salisbury and Syria, expressing concern and making clear their opposition to the use of chemical weapons by any party in any circumstances.
The UK Prime Minister reiterated her country’s position on Russia’s recent destabilising behaviour, underlined by the attack in Salisbury and the protection provided for the Syrian regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons against its people.
The leaders discussed their shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific and committed to working more closely together to ensure it remained free and open.
They reflected on the progress made on bilateral defence and security cooperation since May’s visit to India in 2016 and the agreement to a number of Defence Capability Partnerships in key strategic areas, with closer military-to-military ties underpinned by a succession of high level visits and exchanges.
They agreed to continue working together closely to combat terrorism, radicalisation and online extremism.
They also discussed co-operation between the two countries on legal matters.
May welcomed the return to the UK of the Chennai Six.
She also updated PM Modi on the progress of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, saying the implementation period agreed in March gives Indian companies and investors the confidence that market access will continue on current terms until the end of 2020.
She reiterated that the UK will remain committed to global free trade and investment and that the UK will remain a leading hub for global finance.
Modi said there would be no dilution in the importance of the UK to India post-Brexit. He said the City of London was of great importance to India for accessing the global markets and would remain so.
The two leaders said trade between the UK and India had grown strongly over the last year and Prime Minister Modi said that Brexit offers opportunities to further increase trade ties.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the £1 billion of commercial deals which has been agreed on Wednesday.
They agreed to build on the recommendations of the UK-India Joint Trade Review to reduce barriers to trade, to make it easier to do business in both countries and enable a stronger bilateral trade relationship for the future.
Looking at the future, both discussed the new UK-India Tech Partnership agreed on Wednesday which will create thousands of jobs and generate significant investment in both our economies.
May said the partnership will be at the core of much that we’ll do together over the next decade.
Finally they looked forward to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on Thursday and agreed on the importance of working together to build a more sustainable, prosperous, secure and fairer future for all Commonwealth citizens.
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