At the G20 summit, which is going on in Bali, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared a new “relationship” with India, as informed by Downing Street. Mr. Sunak has given the go-ahead to a scheme that offers 3000 visas for young professionals from India to work in the UK each year. They will be degree-holding Indians between the ages of 18 and 30 who can work in the UK for up to two years under the UK-India Professional Scheme. The program will begin in early 2023 and will operate on a reciprocal basis. The confirmation of the scheme came after a brief meeting between UK PM Rishi Sunak and India’s PM Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. This was their first meeting after Mr. Sunak assumed office as the UK’s Prime Minister last month.
In a statement made by Mr. Sunak, he said that there is enormous value in the strong cultural and historical links that India and Britain have. He is elated with the fact that more of India’s best young people will now get the chance to experience everything that the UK has to offer and vice versa, which will lead to enriching the nation’s economies and cultures. During Mr. Sunak’s political campaign to be British Prime Minister in the summer, he talked about having a reciprocal exchange with India.
According to a press note from Downing Street, the UK has more links with India than almost any other nation in the Indo-Pacific. Among the international students in the UK, Indians comprise almost a quarter of all, and Indian investment in the UK supports 95,000 jobs in the country. The UK government delineated the program’s debut as a “significant moment” for both the UK’s relationship with India and its ties with the Indo-Pacific region.
The Indo-Pacific region is increasingly crucial for Britain’s security and prosperity. The region has teemed with active and quickly expanding economies, and what happens in the next decade will be decided by what happens in this region, according to Mr. Sunak. India is the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme, and the strength of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership was highlighted, according to a statement made by the UK Prime Minister’s office.
According to the Downing Street Statement, Britain is working to strengthen its ability to remove immigration offenders in parallel with the Mobility Partnership with India. The statement was made citing the May 2021 MOU on the Mobility and Migration Partnership, which deals with returning visa overstayers to their home countries.
Moreover, the UK is negotiating a trade deal with India. If this agreement is finalized, it will be the first deal of its kind that India has made with a European country. The India-UK relationship will be ameliorated if the trade deal is confirmed, which is already worth £24 billion. This will allow the UK to seize the possibilities that India’s growing economy has to offer.
