New Delhi: The ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the situation in Indo-Pacific featured prominently in the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and newly appointed British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is on a two-day visit to India, news agency PTI reported.
Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, “Delighted to welcome UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly on his first India visit; shortly after our meeting in New York last month. Noted the progress in our Roadmap 2030. Also discussed the Ukraine conflict and the Indo-Pacific.”
Notably, this is the first visit by a top-ranking British official after Rishi Sunak took charge as UK's first Indian-origin prime minister on Tuesday.
During the visit, Cleverly announced further collaboration between the UK and India through British International Investment, which includes 11 million pound of UK funding invested in Kinara Capital and a woman-led fintech company.
According to British High Commission, Cleverly also announced a 22 million pounds investment by the UK-backed Neev II Fund into Hygenco, which will help India's green energy transition by pioneering green hydrogen.
Calling on countries to fight "online" terrorism, including global terror recruitment campaigns, Cleverly said that the international community must work together to "starve" terrorists of finance and emerging technologies to stop destruction around the world.
“Within the space of two decades, terrorists have gone from circulating crackly voice recordings from the depths of Tora Bora, to global online recruitment and incitement campaigns, to live-streaming attacks. Online incitement has radicalised vulnerable people in far-off countries who have gone on to use rental vans as weapons of terror. So we must continue to work together to fight terrorist ideologies online,” Cleverly said.
Notably, India hosted the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee meeting in its capacity as its chair. While the first day's meeting took place in Mumbai on Friday, second day's deliberations were in Delhi on Saturday.