LONDON, Dec 26: India-UK ties touched a new high in 2014 with British Premier David Cameron according “top priority” to India in UK’s foreign policy and a series of high-level visits taking place to foster closer political and economic relations.
Cameron held his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia ahead of the G20 Summit last month, strengthening the broad and deep ties that UK and India have.
At their meeting, Cameron told Modi that “relations with India are at the top of the priorities of the UK’s foreign policy.”
Keen to foster closer links with the world’s largest democracy, several senior ministerial delegations from the UK, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Minister Vince Cable, visited the country, reflecting the importance of India in the lead up to elections in Britain in May 2015.
It was during one such high-profile visit, by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the then foreign secretary William Hague, the UK government announced plans for a new statue of Mahatma Gandhi to be unveiled at Parliament Square in London.
The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust, headed by NRI economist Lord Meghnad Desai, has since been busy raising the nearly 750,000 pounds required for the nine-feet-tall sculpture to be inaugurated in early 2015.
The UK is also playing a crucial role in the lifting of the ban by European Union on import of mangoes and other vegetables from India.
In April this year, the 28-member European Union had temporarily banned the import of Alphonso mangoes and four vegetables from India from May 1.
In yet another sign of improving bilateral ties, Indo-UK trade registered 6.6 per cent growth to touch 16.4 billion pounds this year.
It is still off the mark set by the British Prime Minister of doubling two-way trade to 20 billion pounds by 2015 but is being held up as a sign of edging closer towards the ambitious target.
The first-ever Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in London in October was a step in that direction with all key drivers of India-UK economic ties coming under one roof in the heart of the city.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who inaugurated the event, made an emotional plea to the Indian diaspora in the UK to answer Modi’s ‘Make in India’ call.
Among the most prominent members of the diaspora, the Hinduja brothers were in the news with the purchase of the UK’s Old War Office building that was once occupied by the country’s war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The historic building was acquired by the Hinduja Group, headed by NRI entrepreneurs S P Hinduja, Chairman, and G P Hinduja, Co-Chairman, in partnership with Spanish industrial company Obrascon Huarte Lain Desarrollos (OHLD) to be restored and re-developed into a five-star hotel and residential apartments.
It capped a year of big ticket deals involving Indians with Mumbai-based Lodha Group and India Bulls acquiring prime central London properties.
According to 2014 figures, Indians accounted for over half the investment flow from overseas into the central London property market.
On the other end of the spectrum was the tragic story of 34 Afghan Sikh stowaways who were discovered in a shipping container on the docks in Essex in September.
They have now sought asylum in the UK and are under Home Office protection.
For Britain’s royal family, it was a year of celebrations as Prince George celebrated his first birthday on July 22nd. His parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, also announced that they are expecting their second baby in the spring of 2015.
Queen Elizabeth II, meanwhile, seems to be preparing for the new generation by embracing Twitter as she sent out her first tweet during the launch of a new Information Age Gallery at London’s Science Museum in October.
The monarch was also called in to launch Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover’s brand new engine plant on October 30.
The Queen, accompanied by husband Duke of Edinburgh and Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata, also toured the new 500-million pounds state-of-the-art Engine Manufacturing Centre at i54 Business Park site near Wolverhampton, which made history by bringing manufacturing of JLR engines back to Britain after nearly two decades under the Tata Group.
Finally, on the cricketing front, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar brought Lords Cricket Ground alive with the London launch of his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’. (PTI)
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