UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday arrived in New Delhi to attend the G20 India Summit scheduled to be held under India’s presidency from September 9-10. The British Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Ahead of the summit, Sunak said that both he and PM Modi are keen to see a “comprehensive and ambitious” trade deal between India and UK. He, however, said that there a lot hard work was still pending to finalise the UK-India Free Trade Agreement even as two countries have made “enormous” progress.

“Both Modi ji and I are keen to see a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal concluded between our two countries…Trade deals always take time, they need to work for both countries. Although we have made enormous progress there is still hard work to go,” Sunak told news agency ANI in an exclusive interview.

The UK PM said that India is the right country to host the G20 summit terming it a huge success for the country. The 18^th G20 summit is being hold under India’s Presidency on a theme of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ – One Earth, One Family, One Future’.

“G20 has been a huge success for India. India is the right country at the right time to be hosting this. Feel we will have a very good couple of days of deliberations and decisions made,” the UK PM said.

UK PM Rishi Sunak tweets, “Before meeting the world leaders of today I’ve been meeting with the world leaders of tomorrow. It’s been fantastic to visit students and staff here at British Council in India- a reflection of the living bridge that exists between the UK and India.” pic.twitter.com/uxtcTE2GAP

— ANI (@ANI) September 8, 2023

On Pro-Khalistan Extremism

Sunak, the first Indian-origin Hindu Prime Minister of the UK said that Pro-Khalistan Extremism will not be tolerated on British soil and that his government is closely working with New Delhi to tackle the ‘PKE’ issue. He also informed that British security minister had recently held talks with his Indian counterparts regarding the issue.

“It’s a really important question and let me just say unequivocally that no form of extremism or violence like that is acceptable in the UK. And that’s why we are working very closely with the Indian government to particularly tackle ‘PKE’ Pro-Khalistan Extremism. I don’t think it’s right. Our security Minister recently was just in India talking to his counterparts. We have working groups together to share intelligence and information so that we can root out this kind of violent extremism. It’s not right and I won’t tolerate it in the UK,” Sunak said.

On Russia-Ukraine war

The UK prime minister claimed that the Russia-Ukraine war has had “devastating impact” on millions of people and he will highlight the issue during the G20 summit.

“When it comes to Ukraine and Russia – one thing I will be doing is highlighting the devastating impact that Russia’s illegal invasion is having on millions of people around the world, particularly on food prices. Russia recently pulled out of a Grain Deal that we are shipping grain from Ukraine to many poor countries around the world and now you have seen food prices go up. That is causing suffering for millions of people. It is not right. One of the things I will be doing is making people aware of the impact of Russia’s illegal war,” he told the news agency.