BRITAIN'S new visa policy could have a "negative impact" on business visits by Indian professionals, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his UK counterpart Theresa May on Monday (5) at the G20 summit in China.
In their first meeting this week since she became prime minister in July, May and Modi also discussed bilateral ties after Britain voted to leave the European Union, India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
“(The) Prime Minister also touched on UK's visa policy. In particular, he said the new UK regulations could have negative impact on Indian working professionals wishing to visit (the) UK for short term business visits," Swarup added.
A British official said May and Modi also agreed to look at ways to retain strong trading links after Britain leaves the European Union.
"The Indians said they wanted to look at how we could continue to have a strong trading relationship and there was agreement that as we prepare to leave the EU, we should be exploring what that looks like," the official said.
"Prime Minister Modi said that we had always been an important partner for India and nothing about leaving the European Union would change that."
May and Modi's meeting took place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Modi also spoke about challenges of terrorism, with the Indian prime minister saying it posed the "biggest threat to the world”.
Referring to May's previous stint as home secretary, Modi said the British leader was only too aware of the dangers of terrorism, Swarup said, adding that the two leaders also discussed counter terrorism cooperation.
A recent meeting of the India-UK joint group on counter terrorism was “useful”, Modi said as he called for greater collaboration in cyber security and intelligence sharing and information gathering.
May said she was keen to support Modi's vision for India and also stressed the importance Britain attaches to the Indian diaspora
Since the referendum vote in June, secretary of state for international trade Dr Liam Fox, secretary of state for international development Priti Patel and Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister Alok Sharma have all made visits to Indiaas Britain seeks to forge new partnerships outside the EU.
In their talks, Modi and May discussed British-Indian trade and investment ties. The Indian prime minister mentioned the recent successful launch of the HSBC Corporate Rupee bond on the London Stock Exchange.
India, Modi said, also needed more UK participation on his “Make in India” initiative. The Indian prime minister said the passage of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) bill, would further boost trade and investment ties with UK, Swarup said.
May also accepted Modi's invitation to visit India.
