EAM’s opening remarks during delegation level talks with Foreign Secretary of the UK (June 7, 2025)

Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Members of the UK delegation, my own colleagues,

David, very pleased to welcome you back to India. You have just had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Modi, and I think your visit at this time gives us an occasion to assess our comprehensive strategic partnership, which I believe has strengthened across all sectors in recent times. We have had very regular high level political and official interactions.

But at the outset, let me thank the Government of the United Kingdom for the strong condemnation of the barbaric terrorist attack in Pahalgam in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and for your solidarity and support to India in the fight against terrorism. We practice a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and expect our partners to understand it, and we will never countenance perpetrators of evil being put at par with its victims.

Foreign Secretary, the recent conclusion of the India-UK FTA and the Double Contribution Convention is truly a milestone which will not only propel our two way trade and investment but will have also have a positive effect on other strategic aspects of our bilateral ties, it would also contribute to the strengthening of supply and value chains.

Since your last visit to India, there have been significant initiatives which both of us have taken and those initiatives have progressed well. I would single out the Technology Security Initiative (TSI) which will enable deeper collaboration in strategic technology sectors of AI, Semiconductors, Telecom, Quantum, HealthTech/ Bio-Tech, Critical Minerals and Advanced Materials.

We have also launched the Strategic Exports and Technology Cooperation Dialogue, the first meeting of which was held, I believe, this week. This will enhance among others the TSI’s effectiveness in promoting trade in critical and emerging technologies, including the resolution of relevant licensing or regulatory issues.

Similarly, the UK-India infrastructure financial bridge can unlock quality long term capital flows from the United Kingdom to India, and that would surely contribute to our infrastructure development.

There is very good collaboration in the education sector with many more universities, I believe, planning to establish their campuses in India, and on the people – to – people ties front, we had the privilege – I myself had the honour - to open two new consulates in Manchester and Belfast.

So, there is so much more that we can talk about and that is indeed why we are meeting.

I look forward to discussing these initiatives on how to further deepen and diversify our partnership, and I also hope we can exchange views on key regional and global issues.

Once again, a very, very warm welcome.

New Delhi
June 7, 2025