Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will visit the UK today (Wednesday 18 April) as an official guest of government at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM).

The Indian Prime Minister’s visit comes with a huge boost for the UK economy as a range of new Indian investments worth more than £1 billion will create or safeguard 5,750 British jobs for the economy.

Alongside the investment, the Department for International Trade (DIT) has agreed to forge a new India-UK Trade Partnership which builds on the recommendations that followed the Joint Trade Review (JTR) between the 2 countries earlier this year.

The new partnership will seek to improve the accessibility of trade for businesses in both countries as the UK assumes responsibility for its independent trade policy for the first time in 40 years. Focusing on the 3 key sectors of life sciences, IT and food and drink, the partnership will seek to reduce barriers to trade, making it easier for trade in these sectors to continue to flourish as well as developing an even stronger trading ties.

The UK also intends to recruit a UK cyber security industry expert to be based at the High Commission in New Delhi. Their role would involve sharing British expertise and connecting Indian private and public sector organisations with cutting-edge UK companies who can supply their specific requirements.

Total trade in goods and services between the UK and India was £18 billion in 2017, a 15% increase from 2016. UK exports to India, led by innovative machinery and mechanical appliances, form a large part of this and also increased significantly by 14.9%.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said:

Removing barriers to trade is a key way in which the UK can capitalise on the predicted growth in world markets and so I’m delighted we have come to this new trade partnership with India.

It is clear that that the opportunities for growth in trade with India are plenty, and as an international economic department we will continue to use tools such as trade missions not only to boost UK exports, but also to help businesses of all sizes forge ties and build cultivate relationships with potential buyers and investors.

The visit of Prime Minister Modi will see the launch of a package of technical assistance to help India climb further up the rankings for ease of doing business, benefitting UK companies and the Indian economy alike. Additionally, the 2 countries have also agreed to strengthen ties between their respective agriculture industries.

Trading relations between the UK and India have received a boost recently after a series of visits and trade missions between the 2 countries. Earlier this year Baroness Fairhead visited Mumbai and Bangalore with a large group of technology businesses to strengthen ties between the industries in the 2 countries. This follows more than 100 UK businesses from different sectors visiting in January and February this year alone.

Contact the DIT Media and Digital Team on 020 7008 3333.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has today begun his second visit to the UK as an official Guest of Government, as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The UK and India are bound together by numerous personal, professional, cultural and institutional ties, and also share a global outlook and a commitment to the rule of law, making us natural partners. Today’s visit will help strengthen this partnership further, improving the prosperity and security for the UK and India.

Prime Minister Theresa May met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They held wide-ranging and constructive discussions and underlined our strategic partnership and growing convergence on regional and international issues and agreed a joint statement.

Cultural links

UK-India cultural links

The UK and India are joined by a ‘living bridge’ as thousands of British and Indian people live, work and study together each year.

UK-India trade

UK-India trade links

The UK and India are huge trading partners with big ambitions for the future. Science and technology are central to our ambitions with joint research growing from £1 million in 2008 to £400 million in 2018.

A new UK aid package of support will help eradicate human trafficking and child exploitation in the Commonwealth, as more countries commit to take action to help victims and bring perpetrators to justice.

A new UK aid package of support will help eradicate human trafficking and child exploitation in the Commonwealth, as more countries commit to take action to help victims and bring perpetrators to justice.

This support, from the Department for International Development and the Home Office, will identify vulnerable people most at risk of child labour and strengthen law enforcement responses in a number of Commonwealth countries to crack down on this horrific crime.

UN experts will determine where child labour is taking place, in what form, and map out where the greatest number of victims are. This work will show where we can help the most children and develop targeted plans to prevent and stop child labour, including in businesses and supply chains. They will also focus on communities affected by conflict where there could be a higher risk of exploitation, such as Rohingya families in Bangladesh who have already fled brutal violence and persecution.

The UK will also work in Commonwealth countries such as Sri Lanka and Malawi to build the capacity of police forces and prosecutors to root out human trafficking and rapidly increase the number of convictions to punish the perpetrators. We will boost regional cooperation, train prosecutors, strengthen the protection of victims to encourage them to speak out and help to develop national policing strategies to break the business model of the traffickers.

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, said:

The UK and the Commonwealth are stepping up to fight one of the greatest injustices of our time – the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable people by predators.

UK aid is helping to stamp out these evil practices, by smashing the traffickers’ exploitative business model, helping to punish the perpetrators and supporting vulnerable people and victims – who are all too often women and children – to rebuild their lives so they do not fall back into a cycle of abuse.

The Commonwealth is uniting to take on this challenge and our renewed commitment to end exploitation of anyone, anywhere, is vital in a world where over 40 million people are still being forced to live in these barbaric conditions.

Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, said:

Human trafficking, forced labour and child exploitation are cruel and horrendous crimes that no one should suffer.

The UK is leading the world in tackling this form of abuse through the ground-breaking Modern Slavery Act 2015, which ensures victims are identified and supported and provides law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to bring perpetrators to justice.

But this is a global problem which requires a global response, which is why all countries must unite to end this to make these brutal crimes a thing of the past. The UK continues to work with our Commonwealth neighbours to strengthen their response to human trafficking and child exploitation. The funding announced today will play a vital role in helping these countries identify and support the most vulnerable people in their communities, while supporting law enforcement to bring offenders to justice.

The Commonwealth has committed to taking a leading role in the international fight against human trafficking and the UK’s support will have a life-changing impact. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings being held in London, a further eight countries have already joined the global Call to Action to end Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, launched by the Prime Minister at the United Nations last year. Over 50 countries around the world have now endorsed the call to action, including more than a third of the Commonwealth, and more are expected to join during the Summit.

The UK is already working closely with Commonwealth countries to end the exploitation of men, women and children. For example in South Asia we are preventing trafficking and forced labour among women migrant workers; in Nigeria we are supporting victims and raising public awareness of the risks of trafficking, whilst improving law enforcement and justice systems to crack down on this crime and root out the perpetrators.

Forced labour and trafficking affects an estimated 40 million people and thrives on desperation, discrimination and inequality in every country of the globe. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable and constitute 71% of all victims – such as in forced labour in the garment sector, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. The UK’s work is enabling girls and women to make informed choices about their lives, including through access to skills and education.

Today’s package of support totals £5.5 million, delivered by the Home Office and DFID, which includes:

• £3 million to support Commonwealth governments to better identify, analyse and subsequently act upon instances of child labour through gathering information and building capacity to end the practice in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Our support will focus on areas affected by conflict where there could be a higher risk of modern slavery in global supply chains and communities like the Rohingya population in Bangladesh. Child labour is prevalent in areas like agriculture, the garment sector, fisheries and construction – raising the risk of products of child labour reaching the UK market.
• £2 million to strengthen law enforcement and justice systems in fighting human trafficking in India, Sri Lanka, Malawi and Zambia. This will develop and implement national policing strategies; raise criminal justice standards on trafficking, and boost the protection of victims.
• £500,000 to support tough new legislation to prevent and tackle human trafficking and forced labour in nine Commonwealth countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, and Sri Lanka – and supporting the scrutiny and oversight of the response to human trafficking.

Notes to Editors:

At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2017, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will double its development spending on modern slavery to £150million, enabling more work in collaboration with source and transit countries. The Prime Minister also made a global Call to Action to end Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

The £5.5 million of support announced today is from the Conflict, Security and Stabilisation Fund (CSSF), with DFID and Home Office Official Development Assistance. The CSSF is a Cross Government fund with through which the UK and our international partners are more secure from threats such as terrorism, corruption and illegal migration or trafficking.

The UK’s ongoing work in South Asia includes the Work in Freedom programme to help women at risk of trafficking and forced labour.

The £10.5 million first phase of the programme helped 380,000 women at risk, and an independent evaluation found the project was innovative, highly relevant and delivering results.

A £13 million investment in the second phase of the programme was announced in December 2017, and will help over 350,000 women, including victims of forced domestic work and garment manufacturing and supporting women at their destination to access help if they are exploited.

In Nigeria, both DFID and the Home Office are working to improve the support offered to victims of trafficking, promote alternative, aspirational livelihoods to potential victims of trafficking, and building the capacity of law enforcement to crack down on the crime.

£7 million of DFID support in Nigeria was announced in December 2017 to create job opportunities in sectors including hospitality and technology which could help up to 30,000 women at risk of modern slavery; and strengthen systems that support victims of trafficking, including through improving safe house support and training for counsellors in at least six safe houses.

The Home Office has provided £5 million of support – announced in September 2016 – which will build the capacity of Nigerian law enforcement to crack down on the crime, help investigate prolific traffickers, and provide protection and rehabilitation for victims.

An ambitious new UK-India Tech Partnership is expected to generate significant investment and support the creation of thousands of new jobs across the UK.

Under the Partnership agreed today by Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Modi, the UK will establish a new UK-India Tech Partnership to identify and pair businesses, venture capital, universities and others to provide access routes to markets for British and Indian entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.

It follows on from the success of the UK-Israel Tech Hub which has generated £62 million worth of deals over the past five years, with a potential impact of £600 million for the UK economy.

The most up-to-date figures show the UK exported £358 million of digital services to India in 2015.

Based on these figures, the success of the UK-Israel Tech Hub and the size of the Indian economy, the Government believes this initiative could give the UK economy a significant boost. It is estimated the UK-India Tech Partnership could contribute to an increase of thousands of tech jobs in the UK in the coming years.

Digital Secretary Matt Hancock said:

Our world-leading digital economy is booming, worth more than £116 billion a year and employing more than two million people.

We’re determined to see this incredible success continue, and this ambitious UK-India Tech Partnership will bring together some of the best minds working in tech to unlock its future potential and deliver high-skilled jobs and economic growth in both countries.

The UK will initially invest £1m to pilot the approach and potentially up to a further £13m by 2022.

To build the network the Government will engage in-country experts to work with the British High Commission in New Delhi, the Indian Government and the private sector in order to increase tech investment, exports and research and development.

Smaller regional teams will link specific cities and regions in India and the UK.

The Partnership will encourage innovation and productivity by helping businesses in the UK and India collaborate on emerging technologies, develop mentoring relationships and exchange staff. The regional teams will also ensure the impact is felt across the breadth of both nations’ expansive tech sectors, and that successful approaches adopted in one region can be shared and adopted in others.

Initially the pilot will connect the UK with Pune in Maharashtra, focussing on the Future of Mobility, including low emission and autonomous vehicles, battery storage and vehicle light-weighting. Additional connections will be linked to Bangalore with a focus on augmented and virtual reality, advanced materials and AI.

If it is as successful as expected, the Partnership can be scaled up to bring in more regions of the UK and India which share expertise in the relevant fields.

In parallel, the UK and India’s tech trade associations TechUK and NASSCOM will work together through a new UK-India Tech Alliance, bringing senior tech leaders together to collaborate, help develop policy and encourage innovation.

The UK and India have also committed to holding a second UK-India Tech Summit to build on the 2016 Summit the Prime Minister attended in India. This will bring together leading tech innovators and scientists from both the UK and India to look at pressing issues such as tech governance, including data privacy issues.

The Department for International Trade also intends to recruit a UK cyber security industry expert to be based in New Delhi, to share British expertise and connect Indian private and public sector organisations with cutting-edge UK companies who can supply their specific requirements.

Julian David, CEO of techUK, said:

This is an incredibly important partnership and something tech businesses from both countries have been driving for. The UK and India are leaders in the development and use of digital tech, and there is a huge amount we can learn from each other and big opportunities to join forces in innovation.

India is also a key strategic partner for the UK with world-class digital skills. Deepening our engagement will open up opportunities for business in both countries and help ensure we maximise the benefits of technology for our societies and citizens.

The Partnership will support the Government in tackling the Grand Challenges set out in the UK’s Industrial Strategy, placing the UK at the forefront of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Economy, Clean Growth, and the Future of Mobility in particular.

It will also directly support the delivery of the UK Digital Strategy by giving businesses a direct link to India’s digital sector, positioning the UK as India’s global partner and destination of choice in tech. India already invests significantly in UK tech with close to 30 per cent of Indian companies’ 110,000 employees in the UK working in tech and telecoms.

The UK and India will also commission a joint study as the first step towards establishing a new UK-India Advanced Manufacturing Centre, which would benefit both the UK and India through our extensive supply-chain networks.

The UK has also announced the extension of the Super Priority Visa (SPV) in two further cities in India – Pune and Bangalore. The SPV is a paid-for service which means eligible customers can receive a visa decision within 24 hours. This brings the total number of locations Indian nationals can use the SPV service to five.

In addition to the UK-India Tech Partnership, Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Modi also confirmed new commercial deals worth £1 billion.

ENDS

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This morning the Prime Minister welcomed Prime Minister Modi of India to Downing Street for bilateral talks. The Prime Minister and Prime Minister 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 Prime Minister reiterated the UK’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 the Prime Minister’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. Mrs May welcomed the return to the UK of the Chennai Six.

The Prime Minister updated Prime Minister 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. Prime Minister 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 today. 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 to the future the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Modi discussed the new UK-India Tech Partnership agreed today which will create thousands of jobs and generate significant investment in both our economies. The Prime Minister 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 tomorrow and agreed on the importance of working together to build a more sustainable, prosperous, secure and fairer future for all Commonwealth citizens.