UK, India agree on ‘expanded’ defense, security partnership: Johnson

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON, UK (AA) - The UK and India would deepen economic ties and collaborate in security matters, the British prime minister said on Friday during his visit to the South Asian country.

“The threats of autocratic coercion have grown even further and it’s therefore vital that we deepen our cooperation,” said Boris Johnson at a joint news conference with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

"Today we’ve agreed a new and expanded Defense and Security Partnership, a decades-long commitment that will not only forge tighter bonds between us but support your goal, Narendra, of Make in India.

"We’ve agreed to work together to meet new threats across land, sea, air, space, and cyber, including partnering on new fighter jet technology,” Johnson added.

To strengthen this defense collaboration, the British government will issue an Open General Export License (OGEL), the first in the Indo-Pacific region, reducing bureaucracy and shortening delivery times for defense procurement.

The two leaders addressed the issues of climate change and agreed to cooperate on clean and renewable energy, with Johnson pledging to support India in its transition away from imported oil and increasing its independence and resilience on secure and sustainable energy.

“We’re also taking big steps together on energy security, helping each other to reduce our dependence on imported hydrocarbons -- and adopt cheaper, more sustainable home-grown alternatives,” Johnson said.

“These partnerships form the superstructure of the Living Bridge that Narendra describes between our countries, and today that bridge is humming with goods and services and people and capital, whizzing back and forth east to west,” he added.

The prime minister’s visit to India, however, has been overshadowed by the growing crisis that is the “partygate” scandal in which Johnson attended numerous parties during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when the British public was restricted by national lockdowns.

Johnson and his Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have been fined by the Metropolitan Police, the first sitting prime minister to have been fined, and on Thursday lawmakers voted in favor of an investigation into whether or not he misled parliament by denying claims that he attended the lockdown parties.