Boris Johnson invited as 2021 Republic Day celebrations chief visitor

India has welcomed U.K. Head administrator Boris Johnson as chief visitor for the Republic Day celebrations in January 2021 and a decision on this is anticipated from London, as per diplomatic sources.

The invite was reached out on November 27 during a phone discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Johnson, a diplomatic source said on December 2. Notwithstanding, there was no affirmation from the British High Commission on this with authorities saying that Mr. Johnson was quick to visit India at the earliest opportunity.

It has been discovered that before this invite conversations were in progress for a little while by Mr. Johnson for the Raisina Dialog.

There was no response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to inquiries on the visit. There has been top level visit since U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit in February 2020 because of COVID-19. Additionally, with the number of COVID-19 cases in India crossing 9.5 million, there is still no clarity on the Republic Day celebrations in 2021.

The MEA said in a proclamation on November 27 that the two leaders traded considerations about the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and explored the promising collaboration between India and U.K. in the zone of antibody advancement and assembling.

The pioneers emphasized their common longing to give a quantum leap to the India-U.K. association in the post-COVID, post-Brexit time, and concurred that there was gigantic potential for improving coordinated effort in exchange and speculation, logical exploration, portability of experts and understudies, and protection and security.

Authorities said that with center around a scope of regions the concentration between the two nations is work out an extensive key association.

Defence cooperation, a need region for the two nations, has seen parcel of action over the most recent couple of years. A mutual defence logistics support agreement is in advanced stages of being signed while a protection preparing Memorandum of Understanding is likewise in progress. A Defense Technology and Industrial Capability Cooperation (DTICC) MoU was signed in April 2019.

The two regions are near marking a government-to-government (G-to-G) agreement on jet engine technology development. Also, the U.K. government is additionally chipping away at a government-to-government framework for defence deals in future. The U.K. has just reported its aim to send a Liaison Officer at the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Center for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) intended to improve Maritime Domain Awareness.

The U.K. has likewise made a pitch to India for joint technology development of 6th era warrior technologies which can go into India’s fifth era Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft as well as offered design of its Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier for Indian Navy’s proposed second indigenous carrier.