India, UK discuss civil nuclear, extradition, trade ties
New Delhi: India and United Kingdom decided to soon launch negotiations for civil nuclear cooperation during a meeting between the External Affairs Minister and her British counterpart, who pushed for sale of its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) despite its Eurofighter Typhoon losing out to France’s Rafale.
“The meeting started on a good note with Swaraj thanking the British Minister for UK’s decision to install Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament Square in London by early next year. The discussions were wide-ranging and extensive and they covered a broad canvas in terms of variety of issues,” External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in New Delhi.
“They started with discussions on economic ties because these are very robust and there is a great expectation from the UK that these will be moving to the next level,” Akbaruddin said.
Both sides agreed to soon launch negotiations for civil nuclear cooperation pact, nearly one-and-a-half years after UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his then counterpart Manmohan Singh decided to have such a pact.
On the issue of extradition, the Spokesperson said, Swaraj told the British minister that “India is very keen to get Raymond Varley extradited” from the UK.
