Boris Johnson asserts UK-India are 'natural partners' owing to shared culture & spirit

Boris Johnson on 13 December, called the UK and India "natural partners," during Global Technology Summit 2021. The Global Technology Summit, which has been conducted yearly since 2016, is the flagship event on geo-technology. It is co-organised by Carnegie India and the Ministry of External Affairs, and it focuses on policy aspects of current technology topics. According to PTI, Prime Minister Johnson stated that India and UK are working together on many great projects, ranging from collaboration on 5G and telecom to startups that will alter people's lives and promote the ideas of freedom, openness, and peace.

"With our shared culture of innovation and our entrepreneurial spirit, the UK and India are natural partners. We're working together on many fantastic projects, from the UK-India partnership on 5G and telecom to the UK startups who are working with India giants. Working side-by-side, we will not only make breakthroughs that will transform people's lives, but we'll help shape a new technology based on the principles of freedom, openness and peace," UK PM Boris Johnson stated in his keynote presentation to the 6th annual Global Tech Summit, PTI reported.

PM Johnson and Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the 2030 Roadmap for strengthening UK-India strategic ties in May this year during a virtual summit. UK PM Boris Johnson told the Global Tech Summit via video link that India and the UK will continue to enhance their ties in technology and other areas over the next decade, as outlined in the 2030 India-UK plan. On the theme of Global Meets Local, the summit was co-hosted by the non-governmental organisation Carnegie India and the Ministry of External Affairs.

'I was so pleased when my friend PM Narendra Modi and I agreed that our two countries should work closer'

PM Boris Johnson stated, "We know that a huge advantage awaits us with Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing and with technology poised to help us find answers to some of humanity's biggest challenges. That's why I was so pleased earlier this year when my friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I agreed that our two countries should work closer than ever before on technology and the roles that will help us shape the coming age."

Johnson's comments come more than a month after he met Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow and discussed ways to strengthen the UK-India relationship in sectors such as green hydrogen, renewables and clean technology, the economy, and defence. That was Modi and Johnson's first face-to-face meeting after the British Prime Minister cancelled his visit to India twice earlier this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The two prime ministers discussed how the Roadmap 2030 priorities were being implemented, notably in the areas of trade and economy, people-to-people, health, defence, and security.

(With inputs from PTI)

Image: AP