British PM Boris Johnson planning a shorter visit to India, meeting with PM Modi and likely visit to Chennai on cards

The British Prime Minister is likely to visit India as planned towards the end of April 2021, but the duration of the visit is likely to be reduced due to prevailing Covid 19 situation in India, a spokesperson of PM Boris Johnson mentioned. “We’ve been in close contact with the Indian government about the PM’s upcoming visit in light of the Covid situation in India. As a result of these discussions the prime minister has made the decision to reduce the length of the visit,” he told reporters.While no official date of the visit has been confirmed, PM Johnson is likely to arrive in New Delhi on April 26. The detailed itinerary for the visit is being worked out and the British PM will have a one to one meeting with his counterpart, PM Modi during his visit. A visit to Chennai is also likely to be included in the schedule.

The visit by British PM is the first major visit to a foreign country post Brexit and is seen as an important one for UK’s foreign policy after its exit from EU. Boris Johnson was to be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi this year, but the visit had to be cancelled due to sudden surge of Covid cases in UK in January. 10 Downing Street had earlier announced the rescheduled visit to India as it unveiled the “Integrated Review” of its security, defence, development and foreign policy where it set out a “tilt to the Indo-Pacific”. According to media reports, Johnson’s trip to India will focus on strengthening India-UK relations as Britain views India as a strategic partner and discussions with business leaders.

India being a high priority country for UK, PM Johnson has invited Prime Minister Modi to attend the  G7 summit as a special invitee which UK is hosting in June this year . COP26 is also planned to take place in Britain this year and PM Johnson had lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in areas such as renewable energy in the global fight against climate change.