New Delhi: UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India due to the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.
In response to a media queries on the upcoming visit of the British Prime Minister to India, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, said, "Given the prevailing Covid situation, it has been decided by mutual agreement that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will not visit India next week”.
The two sides will be holding a virtual meeting in the coming days to launch plans for a transformed India-U.K relationship”, he said.
“Both leaders attach the highest importance to taking the India-U.K. partnership to its fullest potential and propose to remain in close touch in this regard and look forward to an in-person meeting later in the year”, he added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Johnson had reduced the period of his trip due to the surge in the Covid-19 cases and was slated to visit New Delhi from April 25 to set to agree on a roadmap 2030 for strengthening the India-UK relations. Johnson was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for mobilizing partnership with India across various sectors including defence and security.
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In March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said that he will discuss India UK’s shared vision for a sustainable future and other issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his upcoming visit to India.
The British Prime Minister was supposed to arrive in New Delhi on April 26 which would have been the major foreign tour by the leader after Britain exited the European Union.
His visit was expected to shape a new era of India-UK strategic partnerships. It is worth mentioning that in January this year; UK Prime Minister Johnson cancelled his visit to New Delhi in the wake of an increasing number of Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, India's daily new cases continue to rise. A total of 2,73,810 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.
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