- Title: May offers improved visa deal as India, UK launch trade talks
- Date: 7th November 2016
- Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (NOVEMBER 7, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, THERESA MAY AND HER INDIAN COUNTERPART NARENDRA MODI, WALKING TOWARDS PODIUM BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER TO INDIA, DOMINIC ASQUITH, AND INDIAN DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL POLICY & PROMOTION (DIPP) SECRETARY, RAMESH ABHISHEK, EXCHANGING DOCUMENTS / MAY AND MODI APPLAUDING IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, THERESA MAY, SAYING: "The UK will consider further improvements to our visa offer, if at the same time we can step up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain in the UK, and the UK will continue to welcome the brightest and best of Indian students." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, THERESA MAY, SAYING: "The UK has agreed to invest 120 million pounds in a joint fund that will leave a private sector investment from the city of London to finance Indian infrastructure. So the potential to expand the commercial opportunities for both our countries is huge, and on this visit alone more than one billion pounds of business deals will be signed." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, THERESA MAY, SAYING: "Today we have agreed a new partnership that will bring together government, investors and experts to work together on urban development, unlocking opportunities worth 2 billion pounds for British business over the next five years." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, THERESA MAY, SAYING: "We both face a shared threat of terrorism. As individual countries, as partners and as global powers whose interests lie in a stable world founded on the rules-based international system. Today we have agreed to strengthen our cooperation, in particular, by sharing best practice to tackle the use of internet by violent extremists and to reduce radicalisation and recruitment attempts online." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA, MODI, SAYING: "We believe that such a group should not only focus on ways to increase trade in goods, but also on the expansion of services, trade, including through greater mobility of skilled professionals." MODI APPLAUDING / MODI AND MAY SHAKING HANDS AND LEAVING
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2016 12:05
- Keywords: Theresa May Narendra Modi Brexit Britain India trade investment
- Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- City: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00157G3Z2F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:British Prime Minister Theresa May offered India a possible improved visa deal on Monday (November 7), as the two countries kicked off talks on boosting trading links ahead of Britain's departure from the European Union.
May, making her first bilateral trip outside Europe since Britons voted on June 23 to quit the bloc, described as "limitless" the potential of the relationship with India and its market of 1.3 billion people.
She attached a condition to a better deal, however: progress in sending home Indians who have outstayed their visas. That harked back to her tough line as interior minister and the mandate she said the Brexit vote gave on curbing immigration.
"The UK will consider further improvements to our visa offer, if at the same time we can step up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain in the UK, and the UK will continue to welcome the brightest and best of Indian students," May told reporters in New Delhi after talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A source in May's office said any improvements would be about the visa process, such as cost and speed, rather than criteria applicants must meet.
In Modi, May found a host keen to link market access to freedom of movement - the very issue that will complicate her own efforts to extract Britain from the EU without being cut off from the bloc's lucrative single market.
"We believe that such a group should not only focus on ways to increase trade in goods, but also on the expansion of services, trade, including through greater mobility of skilled professionals," Modi told reporters.
His comments highlighted the interests of India's burgeoning IT services sector whose main base is Bengaluru. May will visit the south Indian city, known as the world's back office, on Tuesday (November 8). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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