India to take back illegal migrants in UK, young workers to get visas in return

Migration has long been a source of friction between the two countries

India on Tuesday agreed to take back its citizens illegally staying in the United Kingdom as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart in the British government Boris Johnson announced the launch of the Enhanced Trade Partnership – a prelude to a free trade agreement between the two nations.

The two prime ministers announced an investment of £1 billion in new UK-India trade, that includes vital growing sectors such as health and technology.

While Modi and Johnson had a virtual summit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership in London.

The pact would facilitate legal movement of students and professionals and also enhance cooperation between India and the UK in combating illegal migration. It would create a new scheme for exchange of young professionals under which every year up to 3,000 young Indian professionals can avail employment opportunities in the UK for a period of two years without being subject to labour market test, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.

India in return agreed to take back any of its citizens living illegally in the UK, Sandeep Chakravorty, the Joint Secretary (Europe West) at the MEA, said after the virtual summit between the prime ministers of the two nations.

Read: S Jaishankar meets Priti Patel to sign Migration and Mobility Partnership

Modi and Johnson launched the Enhanced Trade Partnership and announced their intent to negotiate a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement to unlock the full potential of the India-UK trade and commercial relationship, boosting jobs, investment and exports, including consideration of an Interim Trade Agreement to deliver early gains.

They agreed to continue removing trade barriers on the path to an FTA, and an ambitious target of more than doubling India-UK trade by 2030.

Modi nudged Johnson to expedited extradition of fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from the UK to India, said the MEA official.

An MoU announcing the launch of a new India-UK Global Innovation Partnership was signed on the occasion of the virtual summit. This partnership aims to support transfer of inclusive Indian innovations to select developing countries. Both India and UK will be co-financing it and also create a new market-driven fund which will mobilise additional resources to support Indian innovations and their transfer to third countries, said Chakravorty.

The two nations also signed two MoUs on cooperation in the field of pharmaceuticals and medical product regulation, apart from an agreement on customs cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs matters and a statement of principles on new joint work between India and the UK on the India Energy Security Scenarios Calculator. They also inked a joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in the fields of Digital Technology and an MoU on cooperation in the field of telecommunications.

Modi thanked Johnson for the prompt assistance provided by the UK in the form of critical medical equipment for ameliorating the current situation in India. They agreed to expand and enhance the existing UK-India vaccines partnership, highlighting the successful collaboration between Oxford University, Astra Zeneca and the Serum Institute of India on an effective anti-Covid-19 vaccine that is 'developed in UK', 'Made in India' and 'distributed globally'.

They emphasised that the international community should learn lessons and agreed to work together to reform and strengthen WHO and the global health security architecture to strengthen pandemic resilience.

Modi and Johnson signed off on a new shared roadmap during their virtual meeting that includes measures to help limit global temperature rise and support the communities most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.