In a significant development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the 50th G7 summit at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Apulia, Italy. The meeting marked a reaffirmation of Modi’s commitment to further strengthen the India-UK strategic partnership in his third term as the head of the NDA government.

Modi expressed his pleasure at meeting Sunak in Italy and emphasized the potential to deepen ties in sectors like semiconductors, technology, trade, and defense. The meeting was described as “fruitful” by the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal. He highlighted that the two leaders discussed various areas of bilateral relations, including defense and security, trade and economic collaboration, critical and high technology sectors, and people-to-people connect.

A significant part of the discussion was the review of the progress made in the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The India-UK FTA negotiations, which commenced in January 2022, aim to significantly enhance bilateral trade, currently valued at around 38.1 billion pounds per year.

The meeting between Sunak and Modi comes after their last in-person meeting at the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September, where they had agreed to accelerate the FTA talks. However, the trade talks are now expected to resume only after the UK general elections scheduled for July 4.

Modi’s meeting with Sunak was followed by talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. Modi is attending the summit on the invitation of Italian President Georgia Meloni and is slated to address an Outreach session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean alongside leaders of other invited countries and Pope Francis.

This series of meetings underscores the Indian government’s commitment to strengthening international ties and fostering global collaboration.