Prime Minister of United Kingdom Boris Johnson has accepted India’s invitation to visit as the Chief Guest for the Republic Day ceremony on 26 January.

The trip is significant from UK’s perspective as it will be the first foreign trip by PM post-Brexit and also the country will be hosting both the G7 Leaders’ Meeting and COP26 Summits next year.

The Prime Minister has written to Prime Minister Modi to accept his invitation, and to invite India to attend the UK’s G7 Summit as one of three guest nations alongside South Korea and Australia – delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition to work with a group of like-minded democracies to advance shared interests and tackle common challenges, office of UK Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister will use his visit to India to boost our cooperation in areas that matter to the UK and that will be priorities for our international engagement throughout 2021 – from trade and investment, to defence and security, and health and climate change, it added.

UK will also be hosting global education conference aimed at getting girls into school, and an event to mark the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in London in 1946.

On his upcoming visit, British PM said, “I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain, and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister Modi and I have pledged to achieve.”

“As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet,” he said.

“As the ‘pharmacy of the world’ India supplies more than 50% of the world’s vaccines, with over a billion doses of the UK’s Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured at India’s Serum Institute in Pune,” British PM added.

“Our countries have cooperated closely throughout the coronavirus outbreak to maintain the flow of medical goods for our citizens. The UK has received 11 million face masks and 3 million packets of paracetamol from India during the pandemic, and we continue to work together to keep vital supply chains open,” he said.

During the visit, the Prime Minister will be only the second British leader since Indian independence to attend India’s annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi as Guest of Honour, after John Major in 1993.