Jaishankar, UK counterpart James Cleverly discuss bilateral ties

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and his UK counterpart James Cleverly reviewed bilateral relations and India’s G20 presidency during a phone conversation on Tuesday.

Cleverly called Jaishankar ahead of his expected visit to India to attend a meeting of G20 foreign ministers during March 1-2.

“Received a call from UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly. Reviewed our bilateral relationship and discussed the agenda of India’s G20 Presidency,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

This was the first contact between Jaishankar and Cleverly since a two-part BBC documentary on the 2002 sectarian violence in Gujarat triggered a controversy in India.

The external affairs ministry had described the documentary as a “propaganda piece” designed to push a particular “discredited narrative”.

There was no official readout on the phone conversation and it was not immediately clear whether the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries figured in the discussions. The two sides missed the target of concluding the trade deal by Diwali last year because of differences on key matters such as tariffs on automobiles and alcohol and mobility of professionals and students.

The two sides are currently focused on implementing a 10-year roadmap for bolstering ties in defence, security, trade and investment and people-to-people contacts.

The Roadmap 2030 was adopted during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then British counterpart Boris Johnson in May 2021.

At the time, the two sides also upgraded the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.