India, UK enhancing defence ties: British High Commissioner

The 2021 version of naval exercise between India and the UK could be the most complex and sophisticated one yet, British High Commissioner Sir Dominic Asquith said on Friday, highlighting deepening bilateral defense ties. He also said a liaison officer of the UK will be posted in the Indian Navy's information fusion center in Gurgaon as part of efforts to boost maritime cooperation.

The high commissioner said the UK's civil service head of the Ministry of Defence and a Homeland Security Trade Mission led by Director of the UK Defence and Security Organisation will visit India this month. The British diplomat told reporters that UK-India talks at the defense equipment sub-group will also take place next month.

"The 2021 version of our bilateral Navy exercise (Konkan 21) could be the most complex and sophisticated yet," he said. The high commissioner also highlighted growing cooperation between the two countries over a range of areas including trade and investment, education, climate change, and health.

"The UK and India have been top five investors in each other's economies since 2010, and India invests more in the UK then the rest of the EU combined," he said. Asquith said the two countries are also expanding cooperation in the field of climate change and environment protection.

"The UK is nominated to host the COP26, in partnership with Italy, in Glasgow in 2020 and is the first major economy to make a legal commitment to net zero emissions by 2050," he said. The annual conference of parties (COP) of the United Nations has been the key platform to formulate policies to deal with issues relating to climate change.