FM Sitharaman, Liz Truss discuss green energy, infrastructure & NMP to boost India-UK ties

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Friday, held an in-person meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as a part of the latter’s maiden visit to India. According to a press release, both the leaders discussed ‘mutual areas of interest’ including green energy, infrastructure, and the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). It is imperative to note that under NMP, the finance ministry estimates aggregate monetisation potential of Rs 6.0 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government from FY 2022 to FY 2025.

In a Twitter statement, the Indian Ministry of Finance asserted that the leaders jointly agreed to strengthen mutual ties through the Comprehensive Strategy Partnership adopted by the Prime Ministers of India and the UK in May 2021. The partnership is aimed at increasing collaboration in priority areas like technology and security.

Earlier on Friday, Truss also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi. During the meeting, both the ministers took a review of the Roadmap 2030 launched during the India-UK virtual summit in May. In addendum, they also discussed in detail other issues of mutual interest including trade, people-to-people relationships, health partnership, climate change, science and innovation, and defense and security.

The meeting also saw both the leaders welcoming the progress in delivering Enhanced Trade Partnership while underlining the need for launching FTA negotiations at the earliest. Under the deal, both the countries had agreed to explore ‘futuristic opportunities’ in trade and investments by making exports easier and promoting investment flows. They further discussed migration opportunities and enhancing the Global Innovation Partnership between the two nations.    

Commitment to multi-polar world

According to a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), regional and international issues of mutual interest were also discussed with both Jaishankar and Truss sharing their commitment to a multi-polar world, multilateralism, and combating terror threats. It is pertinent to note that Britain has ramped up measures and showed a blatant commitment to counter the Chinese threat in the Indio-Pacific region. Another issue that made its way to the discussion table was emerging risks in cyber and space domains.

(Image: FinMinIndia/Twitter)