Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrives to attend a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
In the first high-level visit by the newly-elected Labour government in the United Kingdom, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy will arrive on July 24 morning for a day-long visit, where a “full reset” of ties and “economic, domestic and global security” will be at the top of the agenda, the British Foreign Office (FCDO) announced. Mr. Lammy, who is coming to Delhi on his way to Laos for ASEAN meetings, will hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. He is expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will hold meetings with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as well before leaving for Vientiane on Thursday morning. Mr. Lammy is also expected to discuss plans for the new U.K. PM Keir Starmer and Mr. Modi to exchange visits.
“I am traveling to India in my first month as Foreign Secretary because resetting our relationship with the Global South is a key part of how this government will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home,” Mr. Lammy said in a statement ahead of his departure, calling India the “emerging superpower of the 21st century”, one of the fastest growing economies, with the world’s largest population.
With his visit, Mr. Lammy will be fulfilling a promise made at an Indian diaspora event shortly before the U.K.’s election on July 4 that he would visit India “within the month” if the Labour government was elected. He is expected to put reviving India-U.K. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks for an early conclusion at the top of his agenda and will also discuss the next steps in the Strategic Partnership. While most of the FTA negotiations, that began in 2022, were completed with the previous Rishi Sunak government, they were put on hold earlier this year with both countries heading to general elections. Officials said that a few issues, including the question of business mobility, tariffs and market access for certain goods still remain unresolved.
“Our Free Trade Agreement negotiations is the floor not the ceiling of our ambitions to unlock our shared potential and deliver growth, from Bengaluru to Birmingham. We have shared interests on the green transition, new technologies, economic security and global security,” Mr. Lammy said.
According to the FCDO statement, Mr. Lammy’s agenda in India includes a visit to a high-tech facility, meetings with Indian business leaders and discussions on cooperating on clean energy initiatives, as well as assisting climate resilience projects for small island states in the Global South.
Extradition cases
Apart from these bilateral issues, India is expected to discuss its concerns about anti-Indian, pro-Khalistan groups operating in the U.K., which have been raised several times in the past. Officials are expected to bring up the long-pending extradition cases against businessmen Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, who are wanted in India.
Mr. Lammy may also raise the continued imprisonment of two British nationals in high-profile and controversial cases: Jagtar Singh Johal, arrested in 2017 for his alleged role in targeted killings by pro-Khalistan groups in Punjab, and Christian Michel, who India extradited from the UAE in 2017, wanted in India as the alleged middleman in the Agusta Westland corruption case. In both cases the U.K. government and UN and U.S.-based human rights agencies have questioned their continued imprisonment without a trial, as well as allegations of torture and arbitrary detention in India. Mr. Sunak had raised the Michel case with Mr. Modi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit last year. In the case of Mr. Johal, Mr. Starmer, then in Opposition, had himself written to the U.K. government demanding that the U.K. push for Mr. Johal, accusing Indian authorities of arresting the “online activist” when he visited India for his wedding, and claimed that he had been “tortured into making a confession to charges carrying the death penalty” in the letter.
