UK Prime Minister Starmer to visit India next week, hold talks with PM Modi in Mumbai

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, will undertake a two-day visit to India starting October 8 at the invitation of PM Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday.

This will be Prime Minister Starmer’s first official visit to India.

According to the MEA, during the visit, on October 9 in Mumbai, the two Prime Ministers will take stock of progress in diverse aspects of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in line with 'Vision 2035', a focussed and time bound 10-year Roadmap of programmes and initiatives in key pillars of trade and investment, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate and energy, health, education and people to people relations.

"Both leaders will engage with businesses and industry leaders on opportunities presented by the India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as a central pillar of the future India–UK economic partnership. They will also exchange views on issues of regional and global importance," read a statement issued by the MEA.

Prime Minister Modi and Starmer will also attend the 6th edition of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai and deliver keynote addresses. The leaders will engage with industry experts, policymakers and innovators at the sidelines of the event.

"The visit will build on the momentum and substance generated by the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the UK on 23–24 July 2025. It will provide a valuable opportunity to reaffirm the shared vision of India and the United Kingdom to build a forward-looking partnership," the MEA stated.

PM Modi and Starmer had met at the UK Prime Minister's country residence at Chequers in Buckinghamshire where the two leaders held a one-on-one meeting as well as delegation level talks.

They had welcomed the signing of the historic India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which raised the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a new level, while significantly enhancing bilateral trade, investment, economic collaborations and job creation in both economies.

The two sides had also agreed to negotiate a Double Contribution Convention, which came into effect along with the CETA and facilitated professionals and service industry in both countries by promoting competitiveness and reducing the cost of doing business for commercial entities.

Noting the growing collaboration in the fields of capital markets and financial services, Prime Minister Modi had underlined in July that the two sides could work to promote greater interaction between GIFT City in Gujarat, India’s first international financial services centre, and UK’s vibrant financial ecosystem.

The two leaders had also welcomed the finalization of a Defence Industrial Roadmap to promote collaboration in co-design, co-development and co-production of defence products to meet the growing demand in both countries as well as for the world market. Welcoming the regular engagement of armed forces of the two countries, they expressed satisfaction at the deepening defence and security partnership.

--IANS

/as