AFP, London :
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Queen Elizabeth II and address a huge rally at London’s Wembley Stadium during a three-day visit to Britain focused on trade and investment starting Thursday.
The trip will be the first time an Indian prime minister visits Britain in nearly 10 years and is expected to yield billions of dollars (euros) worth of deals, including India buying more BAE Systems Hawk trainer jets for its armed forces.
The red carpet reception from Prime Minister David Cameron’s government will be a stark reversal of fortunes for Modi, who had effectively been banned from Britain until three years ago over anti-Muslim riots which killed over 1,000 people in 2002, when he was chief minister of Gujarat. As well as having lunch with the queen at Buckingham Palaceon Friday, Modi, who became India’s prime minister with a landslide victory in 2014, will hold talks with Cameron at Downing Street Thursday and his country residence, Chequers.
He will become the first Indian prime minister to address both Houses of Parliament.
The 65-year-old will also appear before around 60,000 of Britain’s 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora at Wembley Stadium, alongside a free concert and a huge Diwali fireworks display.
“This isn’t just a historic visit. It’s a historic opportunity,” Cameron said ahead of the visit. “It’s an opportunity for two countries, tied by history, people and values, to work together to overcome the biggest challenges of our age.”
India is the world’s ninth-largest economy and, at 7.4 percent, has the fastest growth rate in the G20.
Former colonial power Britain is the fifth-largest world economy. The government is pushing hard to increase overseas trade as it tries to shrink its large deficit in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Cameron promised in 2010 to double Britain’s trade with India by this year. He has visited the country three times, but the trade figure has barely increased. Gareth Price of London-based foreign affairs think-tank Chatham House said Britain was lower down India’s pecking order than other nations such as Japan or Germany.
“A lot of countries are wooing India with deeper pockets and without the historic baggage,” he told AFP.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Queen Elizabeth II and address a huge rally at London’s Wembley Stadium during a three-day visit to Britain focused on trade and investment starting Thursday.
The trip will be the first time an Indian prime minister visits Britain in nearly 10 years and is expected to yield billions of dollars (euros) worth of deals, including India buying more BAE Systems Hawk trainer jets for its armed forces.
The red carpet reception from Prime Minister David Cameron’s government will be a stark reversal of fortunes for Modi, who had effectively been banned from Britain until three years ago over anti-Muslim riots which killed over 1,000 people in 2002, when he was chief minister of Gujarat. As well as having lunch with the queen at Buckingham Palaceon Friday, Modi, who became India’s prime minister with a landslide victory in 2014, will hold talks with Cameron at Downing Street Thursday and his country residence, Chequers.
He will become the first Indian prime minister to address both Houses of Parliament.
The 65-year-old will also appear before around 60,000 of Britain’s 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora at Wembley Stadium, alongside a free concert and a huge Diwali fireworks display.
“This isn’t just a historic visit. It’s a historic opportunity,” Cameron said ahead of the visit. “It’s an opportunity for two countries, tied by history, people and values, to work together to overcome the biggest challenges of our age.”
India is the world’s ninth-largest economy and, at 7.4 percent, has the fastest growth rate in the G20.
Former colonial power Britain is the fifth-largest world economy. The government is pushing hard to increase overseas trade as it tries to shrink its large deficit in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Cameron promised in 2010 to double Britain’s trade with India by this year. He has visited the country three times, but the trade figure has barely increased. Gareth Price of London-based foreign affairs think-tank Chatham House said Britain was lower down India’s pecking order than other nations such as Japan or Germany.
“A lot of countries are wooing India with deeper pockets and without the historic baggage,” he told AFP.
