Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Rashtrapati Bhawan today. The British Prime Minister was welcomed by a guard of honour from the three defence forces at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The UK and India are collectively launching a virtual Hydrogen Science and Innovation Hub. The Hub will focus on providing affordable green hydrogen, garnering new funding for the Green Grids Initiative which was announced at COP26 and collaboration on joint work on the electrification of public transport across India.
The UK is also set to issue an Open General Export License (OGEL) to India in a bid to reduce bureaucracy and shorten delivery times for defence procurement. This is also the first OGEL issued by the UK in the Indo-Pacific region, the release noted.
PM Modi in his speech said that India would want to finalise Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Britain this year. In the last few months India has been successful in achieving FTA with United Arab Emirates and Australia, PM added.
Modi in his address mentioned that UK has agreed to provide India with $100 million to boost India's "made in India" innovations in the country.
Ways to implement India and UK's strategic roadmap were discussed by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson announced that both the countries have confirmed more than 1 billion euros in new investments between the countries, creating almost 11,000 new jobs in the UK.
A UK government release mentioned that the UK will also seek to support India’s requirements for new technology to identify and respond to threats in the Indian Ocean.