S Jaishankar receives call from UK Foreign Secretary, discusses India's G20 presidency

The call comes days after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a “special gesture” joined a meeting between National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and his UK counterpart Tim Barrow in London.

EAM Jaishankar in a tweet said: “Received a call from UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly. Reviewed our bilateral relationship and discussed the agenda of India’s G20 Presidency.”

On Feb 4 when the Indian High Commission in London on its Twitter account said the British PM had joined the meeting between NSA Ajit Doval and his UK counterpart Tim Barrow and that the governments of both countries value strengthening the strategic partnership in trade, defence, science and technology.

"A special gesture by PM @rishisunak to join for a while NSA dialogue between Sir Tim Barrow & Mr Doval at @cabinetofficeuk. Deeply value PM's assurance of his Govts full support to deepen strategic partnership in trade, defence, S&T. Look forward to visiting of Sir Tim to soon," the Indian High Commission tweeted.

The annual strategic dialogue, between Doval and Barrow, was held against the backdrop of the controversy created by the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots.

India and the UK have concluded six rounds of negotiations for an ambitious trade deal and are to begin the next round soon. The two sides began negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement in January 2022.