UK PM Cancelling Visit Must Not Impact UK-India Trade: Industry Leaders

Boris Johnson told reporters that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and concluded that the visit planned for April 25-26 would "very sadly" have to be called off.

Industry chiefs and strategic experts on Monday were unanimous in their view that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelling his visit to India next week was the right move, given the COVID-19 pandemic situation, and expressed confidence that it was unlikely to affect the momentum behind an enhanced UK-India trade partnership. Johnson told reporters that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and concluded that the visit planned for April 25-26 would "very sadly" have to be called off, with India added to the COVID-19 travel ban "red list" from Friday. The two leaders are now expected to connect virtually to sign off a much-anticipated 'Roadmap 2030' as a blueprint for the next decade, on the road to achieving a free trade agreement (FTA) in future. Lord Karan Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said the vision would be to quadruple bilateral trade during that period and that should not be affected by the discussions being conducted virtually instead.