Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to strengthen the UK’s economic and security relationship with India.

In May last year, the UK and India committed to strengthening our relationship through a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a 2030 Roadmap which, comprising five pillars and more than 100 lines of activity, reflects the breadth of UK-India relations. Our economic and security relationship is set to grow further still following visits to India by the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister in March and April, which deepened trade and defence cooperation.

During the Foreign Secretary's visit to India on 31 March, she discussed, with India's Minister of External Affairs Dr Jaishankar, the importance of democracies working together to deter aggressors and strengthen global security in the wake of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian situation in Ukraine. The visit also focussed on deepening defence-related trade and co-operation between our two countries. The Foreign Secretary also visited Delhi and Mumbai on 22-23 October 2021, where discussions focused on technology and infrastructure cooperation with India, alongside forging stronger UK-India security and defence links. The Prime Minister's visit to India in April focused on the UK and India's strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership, and drove forward progress on the Free Trade Agreement negotiations launched earlier this year.