Boris Johnson to visit India in April

New Delhi, Mar 16: UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson will visit India at the end of April as part of efforts to boost opportunities in the region.

It may be recalled that Johnson had cancelled his visit to India on Republic Day owing to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the UK. Johnson had been invited by Delhi as the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations.

On the visit, Johnson's office said, it would 'tilt' its focus towards the Indo-Pacific region as part of its Integrated Review of government policy for the coming years, saying the area increasingly represented the geopolitical centre of the world.

In December Johnson had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formally accept his invitation to visit India as Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade, which was to mark his first major bilateral visit since taking office in 2019 and the first since Britain's formal exit from the European Union (EU) at the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020.

"I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain, and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister Modi and I have pledged to achieve," Johnson said at the time.

"As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet," he said.