The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is scheduled to announce a series of tech and infrastructure deals to boost jobs and increase global green growth between the two countries, during her two-day visit to India starting from Friday.
According to a statment from the British High Commission, the Foreign Secretary will also announce a new forum bringing together leading figures from the UK and India, as part of the UK-India 10 Year Roadmap.
It stated that the minister will also meet Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav in Delhi, and announce a 70 million dollar investment to fund green tech infrastructure projects across India.
During her visit to Delhi and Mumbai, the Foreign Secretary will outline agreements to deepen investment ties between the two countries and work together on finance and technical support packages for the developing world.
“The deals include more tech transfer and knowledge sharing with developing countries alongside heavy capital investment – a model that the UK is looking to replicate with partners around the world. The agreements will help drive forward the Build Back Better World Initiative launched by G7 leaders in June to help meet the huge clean infrastructure need in the developing world,” the statement read.
It further added that the Foreign Secretary wants to strengthen the UK’s economic, technology and security links with fast-growing economies and like-minded partners and build “a network of liberty” around the globe. “Closer ties with like-minded democracies such as India are key to that ambition. In May, the Prime Minister and Indian Prime Minister Modi agreed a new roadmap to strengthen our partnership,” said the statement.
Truss will unveil the Euro 50.4-million (USD 70 million) investment by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s investment arm CDC to fund green tech infrastructure projects across India through the joint Green Growth Equity Fund.
Truss will also announce a Euro 11.5-million British investment in two venture capital funds aimed at supporting India’s transition to cleaner energy. “Both funds will return a profit to the UK taxpayer and make use of UK expertise,” a statement from the British High Commission said.
There will also be an investment of Euro 500,000 by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to build a new virtual network of Indian and British labs working to promote net-zero targets in key industries such as glass, cement, and metals.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the statement said: “I want the UK and India to step-up their partnership in critical areas like technology, investment, security and defence. India is the world’s largest democracy, a tech and economic powerhouse and a vital strategic partner for the UK.
“The Foreign Secretary and Minister Jaishankar will announce a new Strategic Futures Forum, bringing together leading figures from Government, business and academia in both countries to drive closer links in priority areas like tech and security and shape the longer-term, strategic vision for our partnership,” the statement added.
The Foreign Secretary is due to meet Environment Minister Yadav later on Friday to discuss climate targets. She will underline the importance of making concrete progress on climate change ahead of the upcoming COP26 Summit and will note that India already leads the world in renewable technology and express her hope that they will commit to a more ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution.
On Saturday, Liz Truss will speak to Indian business leaders at the ‘Build Back Better World’ roundtable in Mumbai, to help boost infrastructure in the developing world, as per the statement.