British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to visit India next month as part of a plan to transform the group of major industrialized G7 countries into a larger group of 10 leading democracies capable of challenging China and other authoritarian states .
The PM has written to India, Australia and South Korea asking them to attend the G7 summit hosted by the United Kingdom next summer, Downing Street has revealed.
Johnson will also travel to India next month as a guest of honour on India’s National Day with the aim of deepening UK-India relations and symbolizing this that No. 10 describes as a post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific likely to be spelled out in the Integrated Foreign and Security Review due to be published early in the new year.
Johnson said: “As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the UK as we work to boost jobs and growth, address challenges. common threats to our security and protect our planet. ”
Downing Street added: “The visit will be the Prime Minister’s first major bilateral visit since taking office, and the first since the UK left the EU, and underscores his commitment to intensify the UK’s engagement. United in the Indo-Pacific region. ”
In an important diplomatic ploy, No 10 added that Johnson has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to attend the UK’s G7 summit as one of three countries invited alongside Korea. South and Australia – realizing the Prime Minister’s ambition to work with a group of like-minded democracies to promote common interests and address common challenges ”.
The idea of a “D10” group ideologically engaged in the fight against the march of authoritarian states coincides with Joe Biden’s plan to hold a summit of democracies. It is not clear whether the idea of a D10 summit is seen as a complement to the Biden summit or a substitute for the proposal.
The members of the G7 are the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is in India, paving the way for Johnson’s visit, exploring how India and the UK could deepen trade ties to achieve what is described as a leap in before in Indo-British relations.
The UK considers India the ‘pharmacy of the world’ as India supplies over 50% of the world’s vaccines, with over one billion doses of the UK vaccine Oxford / AstraZeneca being manufactured at the Serum Institute in Pune in India.
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