Britain will support India to build its own fighter jets in a bid to reduce its reliance on Russian weapon supplies, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday on a visit to New Delhi.
Johnson also said Britain was also creating an India-specific open general export license to slash delivery times for defence items. Only the European Union and the United States currently have such licences.
But he stopped short of putting pressure on his Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen his position against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine.
On his first visit to India as UK prime minister, Johnson discussed with Modi ways to boost security ties with India, which buys more than half of its military hardware from Russia.
India abstained from a vote in the United Nations condemning the invasion and has not imposed sanctions on Moscow.
Johnson said after meeting Modi it was unlikely India would end its long-standing ties with Russia.
“The position on Russia that the Indians have historically is well known. They are not going to change that, of course, that’s true,” he told a press conference on the final day of his two-day trip.
“But they can see what is going on and there is an increasing appetite to do more with the UK,” he said.
Johnson sought to downplay India’s neutrality, saying Modi had asked Putin “what on earth he thinks he is doing” in one of “several” interventions.
Johnson said India and Britain must deepen cooperation to counter the increasing “autocratic coercion” and keep the Indo-Pacific “open and free,” in an apparent reference to the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime.
Johnson spoke with his counterpart for around 45 minutes in the Hyderabad House government building, devoting up to 15 minutes on Ukraine, Downing Street said.
India’s foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said Johnson put no pressure on Modi over his position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Prime Minister Johnson shared his perspective on it, Prime Minister Modi shared ours—which is that the Russia-Ukraine war should end immediately,” Shringla told reporters. “There was no pressure of any kind.”
Johnson’s official spokesman said Modi asked Johnson’s “perspective” on the Russian invasion, particularly in light of his recent visit to the capital of Kyiv.
But the spokesman said Johnson was “not there to talk to another democratic country about what actions they should take.”
At the press conference, Johnson said the two countries achieved progress on a post-Brexit free trade deal, and said the deal could be wrapped up by October.
Johnson conceded there would be “difficult issues” ahead, including on tariffs, particularly whisky. He was also open to accepting higher levels of migration from India to take skilled jobs in Britain.
He said an FTA would allow Delhi to lift tariffs on British machinery, and in turn, the UK could lift tariffs on Indian rice and textiles.
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