UK-India bilateral relations
16. The FCO told us that relations with India were
"now closer than they have ever been across a broad range
of policy areas".[26]
In 2004 Prime Minister Tony Blair and Indian Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh launched a Joint Declaration (the Prime Ministers'
Initiative) which established annual summit meetings and detailed
five main areas of cooperation: foreign and defence policy, security
challenges, public diplomacy, including educational and cultural
links, economic and trade issues, and sustainable development.[27]
17. At the 2005 UK-India summit, the Prime Ministers
announced the UK-India Education and Research Initiative to improve
educational and research links between India and the UK. At the
last UK-India summit the Prime Ministers announced a new package
of measures for cooperation between the two nations on counter-terrorism
and a new area of cooperation on climate change.[28]
18. The Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Margaret Beckett
MP, told us:
I think the summits have been extremely effective.
More to the point, we are not the only ones to say that they have
been; the Indian Government have also said so in warm terms. I
think that the summits led to a strengthening and deepening of
the bilateral relationship between different Ministers and between
the Governments as a whole. Quite a number of specific outcomes
stem from, as I see it, the strengthening and intensification
of those links at the summits.
[For example we
] had been talking to officials
in India for some time about the possibility of developing a demonstration
power plant, using carbon capture and storage for coal power,
in partnership with India [..]. It was not making as much headway
as people had thought, for no particular reason that anyone could
put their finger on. I raised the issue with the Prime Minister
and I am delighted to say that the obstacles seem to have been
miraculously waved away.
[
] We have seen quite a strong increase
in student numberswe have the largest number of Indian
students ever in this country this year. [
] So there are
a number of concrete areasin the economy, education, trade
and so onwhere links are strengthening.[29]
19. The Joint Declaration also established the UK-India
Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) to "enhance bilateral
trade and investment in specific sectors". A UK-India
Investment summit was held alongside the political summit in October
2006.[30] The UK and
India also have a forum to discuss bilateral economic issues and
economic policy agendas, in the context of globalisation, the
Economic and Financial Dialogue, which meets annually.[31]
20. We conclude that the UK and India enjoy excellent
bilateral relations on a wide range of shared interests. We recommend
that the Government sets out in its response to this Report how
bilateral relations between the UK and India could be strengthened
further in the future.
7 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Active Diplomacy
for a Changing World: The UK's International Priorities,
Cm
6762, March 2006, pp 24-25
Back
8
C. Raja Mohan, "India and the Balance of Power", Foreign
Affairs, vol 85, number 4 (July/August 2006), p 19 Back
9
Gurcharan Das, "The Indian Model", Foreign Affairs,
vol 85, number 4 (July/August 2006) Back
10
Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods; The Strange Rise of Modern
India, (London, 2006), p 27 Back
11
Gurcharan Das, "The Indian Model", Foreign Affairs,
vol 85, number 4 (July/August 2006) Back
12
Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods; The Strange Rise of Modern
India, (London, 2006), pp 27-28 Back
13
Gurcharan Das, "The Indian Model", Foreign Affairs,
vol 85, number 4 (July/August 2006) Back
14
Q 67 Back
15
Q 7 Back
16
Percentage GDP growth given by calendar year. Figures from the
International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database,
September 2006 Back
17
Q 2 Back
18
Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods; The Strange Rise of Modern
India, (London, 2006), p 267 Back
19
Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation
committed the parties "to abstain from providing any assistance
to any third party that engages in armed conflict with the other"
and "in the event of either party being subjected to an attack
or threat thereof [
] to immediately enter into mutual consultations." Back
20
C. Raja Mohan, "India and the Balance of Power", Foreign
Affairs, vol 85, number 4 (July/August 2006), p 19 Back
21
Ev 178 Back
22
Ev 177 Back
23
Q 2 Back
24
Q 3 Back
25
Ev 42, para 99 Back
26
Ev 46, para 133 Back
27
Ev 46, paras 133-134 Back
28
10 Downing Street, Press Conference with Prime Minister of
India, 10 October 2006 Back
29
Q 139 Back
30
Ev 46, para 134 Back
31
Ibid, para 135 Back