UK, India want one another now greater than ever, says Boris Johnson

Ties between the United Kingdom and India will stay on a “phenomenal upward trajectory” below Indian-origin UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Britain’s former premier Boris Johnson mentioned on Saturday.

The two nations want one another now greater than ever as “we live in dangerous and turbulent times”, he mentioned.

Johnson additionally known as on the 2 nations to finalise a free commerce settlement, saying he couldn’t wait until subsequent Diwali for it.

“No mission that I have led has been as successful as the one in April this year when I arrived in Gujarat and was greeted like Sachin Tendulkar. There were pictures of me everywhere and literally thousands of people dancing on the streets,” Johnson mentioned in his tackle on the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi.

Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he had mentioned the way forward for India-UK partnership throughout his India go to, Johnson mentioned they’d “fantastic talks” and there have been outcomes.

File picture of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson with sitting PM Rishi Sunak (AP Photo)

“India has become the number one supplier of overseas students to the UK. There are 1,08,000 Indian students in the UK to support our education industry,” he mentioned.

The former British prime minister identified that even with no free commerce settlement, the 2 nations have seen bilateral commerce go up by 28 per cent.

“Let us finally deliver that free trade agreement which mysteriously seems to have developed a flat tyre since I left office. Prime Minister Modi and I said it will be done by Diwali. I’m not going to wait till the next Diwali before we do that free trade deal. I wonder what the holdup is,” Johnson mentioned.

“The government that I was proud to lead boasted more ministers who could trace their origins to India than any other government in the world. The crowning achievement of my approach is that my replacement himself is of Indian-origin,” he mentioned.

There is not any better sacrifice than that of those that lay down their lives in service of their nation.

So throughout this yr’s #PoppyAppeal, please give generously to honour our veterans – previous and current – and people who proceed to guard us at this time. pic.twitter.com/3pEDk3ZU2g

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 31, 2022

Last month, Rishi Sunak was put in as Britain’s first Indian-origin prime minister after the temporary tenure of Liz Truss, who had taken over after Johnson stop because the prime minister.

“I know that under Rishi, this relationship, so strong and so dynamic, is going to follow the same phenomenal upward trajectory. We need each other now more than ever because, as PM Modi and his external affairs minister S Jaishankar had said, we live in dangerous and turbulent times,” Johnson mentioned.

The former British prime minister additionally slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for a “vile and unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine.

“Even if the UK and India were not drawn together by ties of love, sentiments, family, by trade, commerce…if we were not tied together by economic self-interest, we would be drawn together for this fervour and the vital reason that we two democracies are forced to cope together with the irresponsible and sometimes dangerous behaviour of the world’s coercive autocracies,” he added.

In this file picture, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stroll alongside a road after a gathering, as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters)

Hitting out at Putin, Johnson made three predictions. “Putin will lose and deservedly so…Putin will be beaten by simple heroism of love and country by the people of Ukraine,” he mentioned.

Asserting that the battle was a “disastrous advertisement” for Putin’s “war machine”, he mentioned Russia’s exports of army tools will likely be badly affected.

This disastrous miscalculation by Putin will severely weaken Russia and significantly strengthen China, he predicted.

“The bear is looking increasingly forlorn and pushed around by a giant, assertive Kung Fu Panda,” he mentioned.

The former British prime minister additionally hailed the India-UK collaboration in offering vaccines towards Covid to the world and in contrast the profitable dealing with of the pandemic in democracies just like the UK and India to that of “autocracies” comparable to China.