British Prime Minister Theresa May will be on a three day visit to India from Sunday (November 6). On her visit, she will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ms May alongwith Mr Modi will inaugurate the India-UK Tech Summit.
The Summit is being organised by the Department of Science and Technology and Confederation of Indian Industries. The summit demonstrates the importance of science and technology cooperation between India and UK.
At the Summit, government officials, business leaders and scientists will engage together to see how science and technology collaboration could be leveraged to open up new opportunities for bilateral business, trade and investment. India and UK have robust trade and investment partnership. Bilateral trade in goods stood at 14 billion dollars in 2015-16.
Ahead of the visit, British Prime Minister Theresa May today had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two Prime Ministers exchanged greetings on the occasion of Diwali, celebrated recently. Both Leaders agreed that there is substantial scope for further strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of sectors, including Science and Technology, Finance, Trade and Investment, and Defence and Security.
Meanwhile, in reply to a question, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, enrollment of Indian students in UK Universities have come down by almost 50 percent during the last 5 years. This has happened due to restrictions on post-study stay there. He said, India has raised its concerns on the difficulties being faced by Indian students with the UK side and the mobility issues are likely to be raised during the visit.