British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to be the chief guest for the Republic Day function next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited him for the national event during his telephonic talks recently.
It will be the first high-profile visit by a foreign dignitary to India during the ongoing global pandemic.
While India and the UK are yet to officially announce the visit, reports on Wednesday here indicated that Modi invited Johnson during his talks on November 27. The British Prime Minister invited Modi to the G-7 summit there next year.
If the visit materialises, Johnson will be the first United Kingdom Prime Minister to be the chief guest of the Republic Day parade after more than 25 years. The last British Prime Minister to be the chief guest was John Major in 1993.
Besides the invitations, the two leaders discussed the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and other related issues.
“The leaders reiterated their shared desire to impart a quantum jump to the India-UK partnership in the post-Covid, post-BREXIT era, and agreed that there was tremendous potential for enhancing collaboration in trade and investment, scientific research, mobility of professionals and students, and defence and security,” an official said.
In November, acting British High Commissioner to India Jan Thompson had said Johnson will soon make an “in person” visit to India. She said, “We are expecting UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will be paying an in-person visit to India in the next few months. Beyond that, PM Boris Johnson is very keen to come to India. So we hope, over the next few months, we will visit, by both FS Raab and PM Johnson.”
In a tweet message after the talks, Modi had said, “Had an excellent discussion with my friend, UK PM @BorisJohnson on an ambitious roadmap for India-UK ties in the next decade. We agreed to work towards a quantum leap in our cooperation in all areas -- trade & investment, defence & security, climate change, and fighting Covid-19.”
Asked about the proposed visit, the British High Commission said on Wednesday, “We cannot confirm one way or other, PM Boris Johnson is keen to visit as soon as possible.”
Earlier, Johnson had extended greetings to his Indian counterpart “friend” Narendra Modi on his 70th birthday, expressing hope that the two leaders would meet soon. The two leaders are known to share a strong personal rapport.
The two Prime Ministers had last met on the sidelines of the multilateral G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, last year. Modi’s last visit to the UK as Prime Minister was a year earlier for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April 2018. He had held bilateral meetings with then Prime Minister Theresa May.