PM's visit to match that of Xi in pomp and grandeur

Will ask business community to come invest in India, says PM

Several agreements in the financial as well as defence sectors are likely to be inked during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three day visit to the United Kingdom on November 12, 13 and 14.  But equally importantly, Modi’s visit will match for pomp and show that of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s successful visit to London in the third week of October.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today said Modi’s visit cannot be compared to that of the Chinese President as “it is not possible to compare apples and oranges” given the India-UK historical ties.

But South Block understood that comparisons would be inevitable and has spent much effort in planning the official and non-official events. The highlight as well as the differentiator with that of Xi’s visit, Jaishankar hinted, will be Modi’s address to the Indian diaspora at Wembley Stadium on November 13. Nearly 70,000 people are likely to attend.

Just as Xi had a lunch with Queen Elizabeth at the Buckingham Palace, so will Modi. Jaishankar said Modi will also become the first ever Indian PM to address the British Parliament. The Chinese President had also addressed the British Parliament.

Another highlight will be the PM garlanding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Parliament Square, coinciding with a fly-past flying the Indian flag. He will visit the house where BR Ambedkar lived as a student in London in 1920-21 and unveil a statue of Lingayat saint Basaveshwara. Modi, unlike Xi who stayed in a hotel, will stay in the official retreat of the British PM, the Chequers. He will be the first ever Indian PM to do so.

The Foreign Secretary said Modi will also visit the Jaguar Land Rover factory at Solihull, a fully owned company of Tata Motors, to “drive home the point that we (India) are job makers, not job takers”. He said Jaguar Land Rover was the largest private sector employer. He will also take part in a CEO round tab

This will be the first bilateral visit to the UK by an Indian PM since 2006. The visit will focus on boosting ties in trade, defence and energy sector, including taking discussions forward on civil nuclear cooperation and enhancing cooperation in combating terrorism. The two sides are likely to come out with three separate outcome documents on development partnership, defence and security and on energy and climate change, Jaishankar said. He said there might also be a vision statement on overall ties.

Modi said in a Facebook post that UK and India were “two vibrant democracies, which are proud of their diversity and multicultural societies.” He said his message to the business community in UK “is clear -- come, make use of the opportunities India is offering and invest in India.” He identified cooperation in defence manufacturing as the primary focus of his talks with his counterpart David Cameron.

The bilateral trade between the two countries is around US$ 14 billion. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from UK to India has been around US$ 22 billion while India's investment in that country is around US$ 500-600 million.

The Prime Minister will leave for Turkey from UK on November 14 to attend the G20 Summit.