UK PM Johnson to visit India on April 21 to strengthen ties
Darpan News Desk, 20 Apr, 2022 10:45 AM
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will pay an official visit to India from April 21-22. This will be his maiden visit to India as Prime Minister, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday.
During the two-day meet, the British Prime Minister will first land in Ahmedabad on April 21 and then proceed to Delhi.
The ministry statement said, "At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Rt. Hon'ble Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will pay an official visit to India from 21-22 April 2022. This will be his maiden visit to India as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom."
During the visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UK PM are likely to discuss trade, defence and the Ukraine crisis.
"The Prime Ministers will review implementation of the Roadmap 2030 and set their vision for further intensifying cooperation across the full spectrum of bilateral ties. They will also exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest," said the ministry.
"Prime Minister Johnson will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan and will hold bilateral consultations with the Prime Minister on April 22. Besides official engagements in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will also visit Gujarat on April 21.
"India and the United Kingdom enjoy a long and historical relationship which was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK Virtual Summit in 2021," said the ministry in a statement.
The Biden administration has kept in place travel restrictions that have severely curtailed international trips to the U.S., citing the spread of the delta variant of the virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents who have been to China, the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the prior 14 days are prohibited from entering the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.
President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation's biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.
