External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday confirmed that the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be attending India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2021 as the chief guest, adding that it is symbolic of a new era of India-UK ties.
The minister said, “It would be in a way symbolic of a new era, a new phase of our relationship, it will also really drive us to put in place a lot of mechanisms, platforms that would realise the kind of expectations that both Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have of the relationship and which they have discussed with each other. The UK is a very important partner for us, whether it is on global issues, whether it is multilateral organisations. We certainly expect a much closer working together in international organisation and platforms and on global issues.”
Earlier while delivering the joint-statement, he said that he and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had a four-hour-long discussion on a wide range of issues including on how to take India and UK ties at a higher level.
“We focused on five broad themes — coting people, trade and prosperity, defence and security, climate change, and health,” said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar and Raab also reviewed the situation in Afghanistan, the evolution of the Indo-Pacific, and developments in the middle-east.
