There are many things going on from the foreign policy perspective in choosing the chief guest for the Republic Day celebration. Here are the few points why we are inviting UK's PM for this year.
1st January marked the end of transition period for Britain. EU accounted for 47% of UK's total trade. EU is the largest trading partner of UK. India sees a window of opportunity here to expand trade ties. Recently commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have held dialogue with their UK counterparts to review the progress towards post-Brexit enhanced trade partnership, which may lead FTA in the future and also open doors for FTA with EU. Foreign Secretary had confirmed during his last visit to London that "Obviously, a limited deal means we work on those areas on which both sides can immediately agree to. We need more time to conclude a more comprehensive trade agreement but our ministers are in touch and will work on trying to close such a deal". This shows the importance of trade deal for India, It further increased as we have not joined RCEP. And now we are looking for more bilateral deals. India - UK trade in 2019 stood at USD 15.5 billion, important thing is trade is balanced. Hunt is not one-sided, UK is also searching for new markets in Africa, America after Brexit. India has golden chance to show that she is no more protectionist towards trade.
You can expect the UK to be more active and energetic, especially, as have been talking about this Indo-Pacific tilt
said foreign secretary of UK Mr Raab. UK will come out with strategic review on the concept of Indo - Pacific. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar also expressed satisfaction with the growing recognition of the idea. UK is highly intrested to help India in developing INS Vishal(India's second indigenous aircraft carrier and overall third). The talks are in place for Indian navy to buy detailed plans for the 65,000 ton British warship to build it by 2022. If this deal successfully closes, it will be a giant leap in India - UK defence relations.
India and UK are also exploring options for collaboration on joint defence projects and are close to sign a government to government agreement on jet engine technology. "As natural defence partners, and not just supporters of Make in India, we also want to Create in India as we develop new technologies together" said UK Defence Adviser. Two countries are already in partnership in Armoured Fighting Vehicle engines, Firearms, Howitzers, etc. UK defence companies could also use India’s industrial capacity to build scale and lower costs of their own products for competitive advantage in the exports market. It is clear that partnership with UK is a major boost to Make in India defence.
UK supports the President Trump's suggestion to expand G7 to include India. PM Modi recently accepted the invitation of British PM to be part of the G7 meeting this year. It extended the invitation to South Korean and Australian leader. British PM Johnson also want to work with the group of like minded democracies to advance shared interests and tackle common challenges. UK's relations with China is getting worse chiefly because of the national security law Beijing has imposed in Hong Kong. This put the India, US, UK, Australia, South Korea and ASEAN nation in the same basket.
Along with this UK invited PM Modi to take part in climate change conference(COP26). UK with UN, France, Chile and Italy will host the virtual leader-level summit on the five year anniversary of Paris agreement. "Strengthened UK-India partnership will be a force for good in the world, in facing the big international challenges over the next decade, such as climate change and global security," said Barton, High Commissioner to India.
D10 stands for 10 democracies. UK proposed the new club of 10 democracies - including G7 countries plus Australia, South Korea and India. Primary aim of the group is to curb the reliance on China for 5G technology. It seeks to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies. It remains to be seen how the USA will react to the idea under the Biden administration.
Jio is ready to roll out 5G this year. "Jio will pioneer the 5G revolution in India. It will be powered by indigenous-developed network, hardware and technology components. Jio's 5G service will be a testimony to inspiring vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. I can say with utmost confidence that 5G will enable India to not only participate in the fourth industrial revolution but also to lead it" Ambani had said in IMC-2020. Thus, India has potential to provide alternative at an affordable prices. And if these equipments, services are already tested in India, it will give a huge confidence to other buyers. So this is the great opportunity for India, if she acquires some pace in allocating the spectrum and provides some relief to other telecom companies in filing their AGR dues. These are the required steps to give booster dose to telcos in India.
We have very good reasons to invite the UK PM as chief guest for our republic day celebrations. But unfortunately due to new variant of COVID PM Boris Johnson cancels his visit to India. In the light of strict national lock-down and speed at which new variant is spreading, it is important for the PM to remain in the country. It looks very odd that population of country is under lock-down and their leader is participating in celebrations of some other country.
This has left a big question for India. With just 20 days remaining whom will we choose as a new chief guest. Here are some good options that India has right now.
India - Bangladesh relations are continuously improving. India - Bangladesh trade stands at USD 10 billion with lots of opportunity left to explore. It showed the interest in joining India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) trilateral highway to enhance connectivity with Southeast Asia. This will add a new chapter in trans-border corridor in the region and act-east policy. This gives us chance to increase connectivity to North-East through Bangladesh to reduce the dependance on Siliguri Corridor. Bangladesh also agreed to early operationalization of the BBIN motor vehicle agreement. India-Bangladesh restored the Haldibari-Chilahati rail link after 55 years, inland water way routes are also opened last year. These steps greatly benefits Bangladesh and North-Eastern India. So we can say that relations are on the rise and republic day invitation may work as icing on the cake.
India - Bhutan have a strong historical and cultural ties. India is largest trading partner for Bhutan. It is the only neighboring country that has not joined the BRI. India is helping Bhutan to construct major hydropowers porject and agreed to buy the additional electricity. India - Bhutan friendship is ready to touch skies too, ISRO will be helping Bhutan to develop its own satellite that will be launched by ISRO this year. It supported India during Doklam standoff, part of BBIN. India helped Bhutan to establish diplomatic ties with Germany and Israel. Need is to explore new areas of more cooperation in IT, pharma and infrastructure sector. India - Bhutan friendship has created an example for the whole world said India's ambassador to Bhutan.
Besides these two options under neighborhood first policy, Scott Morrison(Australia PM), PM of Japan, President of France, leader from South Korea, Maldives, ASEAN may also be under consideration list of the authorities.