‘Special gesture’: Rishi Sunak joins Ajit Doval-UK NSA meeting in London

It was a “special gesture” by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to join National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and his UK counterpart Tim Barrow in London for the annual strategic dialogue.

The high commission of India in London wrote on Twitter that the governments of both countries value strengthening strategic partnerships in trade, defence, science and technology.

“A special gesture by PM @rishisunak to join for a while NSA dialogue btwn Sir Tim Barrow & Mr Doval at @cabinetofficeuk. Deeply value PM’s assurance of his Govts full support to deepen strategic partnership in trade, defence, S&T. Look forward to visit of Sir Tim to soon,” the High Commission of India in London tweeted.

Doval met Barrow in the backdrop of British State broadcaster BBC trying to rake up the 2002 Gujarat riots and target Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On his way back from a positive dialogue with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in Washington, Doval was in London having a candid dialogue with Barrow on the state of bilateral relationship, global strategic environment with the Ukraine war in focus. The two NSAs were expected to exchange notes on terrorism emanating in the Af-Pak region and the overall situation in the Middle East.

India and the UK share a comprehensive strategic partnership with each other. The two nations have also concluded six rounds of negotiations for a trade deal and will begin the next round very soon. India and UK began the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations in January 2022. The UK-India free trade agreement is well-advanced. Although trade at the moment is worth 29.6 billion pounds, India is only the 12th largest trading partner of the UK.

In a recent interview to news agency ANI, the British high commissioner also emphasised the advantages of the India-UK free trade agreement, which he says is supported by the mutual trust between the two countries.

Sunak had earlier conveyed his hope of finalising the trade agreement during a call with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.