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India’s relations with the United Kingdom have shared historical significance. The ties between two countries strengthened with the passage of time while cooperating with each other economically and interacting politically. Today, they have intensive cooperation in diverse fields such as information technology and terrorism.
In the back drop of such a long association, the present leaders of the India and the UK have taken one more step to further the bilateral ties for times to come. Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and his British counterpart, Tony Blair recently signed a joint declaration to mark a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries taking the bilateral ties to a new level.
The declaration has taken note of the presence of a large community of Indian origin in the UK. It is estimated to be around 1.3 million of the UK’s 59 million population. Of these, 300,000 are Sikhs and about 70,000 are Kashmiris. Their cultural values that contribute significantly towards the society is a reason for a vital bond between the two countries. Further both the societies value and encourage, cultural and ethnic diversity. Besides people from both the countries visit each other at a large scale. This flow of people help flourish in different areas such as education, health, science and technology, trade and tourism. Besides, Indian community is also beginning to wield influence on the British political scene.
The bilateral relationship has been enhanced with the development of institutional linkages with British political parties such as ‘Labour Friends of India Group’ (LFIN) in September 1999, ‘Libdem Friends India Parliamentary Group’ in September 2000 and ‘the Conservative Parliamentary Friends of India Group’ in 2001 to promote relations between Parliament and the governments of both the countries.
The UK has been India’s second largest trading partner world-wide and largest within the European Union. The bilateral trade is on the upswing. It grew by over 20 per cent last year. And to continue this growth, the investment in both the directions is to be strengthened. India mainly exports manufactured goods (84.4 per cent) and agricultural and allied products (13.7 per cent) to the UK. While the country’s imports from the UK consist of capital goods (31 per cent), export related items (30 per cent), manufacturing goods (21 per cent) and raw materials and intermediaries (14 per cent).
For further expansion of economic ties, the two sides have decided to establish a Ministerially-led Joint Economic and Trade Committee. It would enhance bilateral trade and investment in specific sectors such as services and knowledge-based industries. There is also a need to enhance the dialogue on international trade and investment issues.
Indo-British cooperation would greatly reflect while working closely together for a successful conclusion to the WTO’s Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. They also have agreed to expand cooperation in civilian nuclear activities and space programmes, and high technology trade in accordance with international obligations. With the formation of a Joint Committee on Science & Technology they have enabled scientists to establish links and exchange research ideas. Both the countries have decided to enhance existing collaboration and identify new areas for cooperation in fields such as climate change, alternative and clean energy technologies, environmental science, commercial applications of high technology like biotech and bio-informatics, nano-technology, agriculture and health research and development.
There have been strong academic relationship between the UK and our country. It is expected that 25,000 students from both the countries would be studying in each other’s academic institutions by 2008. It is really thoughtful that both countries come forward to explore ways to help educational establishments in respective countries for lasting partnerships. Both the leaders welcomed the marked influence of each other’s culture on their respective cultures. They avowed to work together to strengthen cultural linkages between the countries including in areas like publishing and film production.
Both the countries share the view that the multilateral system needs to be strengthened urgently to meet the global challenges. Towards this end, the two sides would co-operate closely and the UK would continue to work for India’s Permanent Membership of the UN Security Council.
On the security front the nations, both the countries are committed to take on challenges that have risen from the threat of terrorism. They would work together to ensure that the global norms against terrorism are upheld by all countries. They have agreed to share their experience and forward the cooperation, including operational cooperation between police, law enforcement agencies and others in the criminal justice system. It has been agreed to enhance mutual cooperation to counter money laundering and terrorist-financing. Besides, the UK has decided to support India to join the Financial Task Force. Both the countries have come together against international, organized and serious crimes including illegal migration, drugs and human trafficking.
India and UK recognize that the cooperation is essential to deliver the progressive global agenda set by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Millennium Declaration. They would initiate regular high-level dialogue to share experience to overcome social, economic and environmental challenges and bring real quality of life improvements for people not only in both the countries but also around the world.
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