Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visits India to strengthen ties and tackle terrorism
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UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly travelled to India last week on Friday, 28 October for his first official trip to the country – to meet his counterpart and discuss strengthening the UK-India relationship.
He visited Mumbai on Friday and travellled to New Delhi on Saturday.
In Mumbai he paid to those who lost their lives in the city’s terror attack at the Taj Palace Hotel in 2008.
On Saturday, he arrived in the capital city of New Delhi to speak at the Special Meeting of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.
During his speech he addressed that terrorism is a global threat and needs to be tackled through partnership. He said, “Terrorism is a global problem, and a global threat, so I am incredibly grateful for Foreign Minister Jaishankar for using India’s Security Council Presidency to focus on this crucial issue, and advance his 8-point plan”
He also called on the countries to work together to fight online terrorism – including global terror recruitment campaigns and live streaming of attacks.
“The UK’s partnership with India is hugely important to me. And I’m pleased to be taking forward our CT cooperation this weekend. But let me now turn to the technological advances which offer terrorists new opportunities that we must counteract.
“Within the space of just 2 decades, terrorists have gone from circulating crackly voice recordings from the depths of Tora Bora, to global online recruitment and incitement campaigns, to live-stream attacks. And online incitement and racialisation of vulnerable people in far off countries, who have then gone on to use simple rental vans as weapons of terror. So we must continue to work together to fight terrorist ideologies online.”
The Foreign Secretary met India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss the latest on the 2030 Roadmap, the landmark commitment to boost cooperation between the UK and India over the next decade under a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Since it was launched last year, huge progress has been made, including the start of ambitious free trade negotiations, the expansion of both the countries’ defence and security partnership, including through a visit to India last year by HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Carrier Strike Group (CSG), and joint exercises to enhance cyber security collaboration.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also said, “Our relationship with India is hugely important to me; as the world’s largest democracy, India is a natural partner for the UK in the Indo-Pacific. It is an economic and tech powerhouse. Our deeper ties will boost both our economies and help to tackle global security challenges.
“I look forward to working even more closely with India when it takes up the G20 Presidency in December.”