11 July 2014

India and UK to launch civil nuclear cooperation

India and United Kingdom on 8 July 2014 decided to launch negotiations for civil nuclear cooperation. The decision was taken during the visit of UK foreign secretary of state William Hague to India.  He visited India on 7- 8 July 2014.
The Union External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj and UK foreign secretary of state William Hague had discussions on variety of issues related to bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.
The discussions were wide-ranging and extensive and covered variety of issues like civil nuclear cooperation, extradition, counter-terrorism and cyber issues as well as security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The issues mainly included economic ties between the two countries.
At present, the Bilateral trade between the UK and India stands at 15 billion US dollars.  
India demanded extradition of British citizen Raymond Varley, accused of being a part of an international paedophile ring and abusing children in Goa in the 1980s and 1990s. Besides, India also invited British companies to invest in its Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor infrastructure project.
British drived the sale of its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) to India though their Eurofighter Typhoon lost to Rafale of France.