NEW DELHI/MUMBAI/DHAKA: In one of the most defining weeks for contemporary diplomacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reaffirmed their shared commitment to a stronger India–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during Starmer’s first official visit to India on October 8–9. The visit, which followed Prime Minister Modi’s landmark July 2025 trip to London, marked not just a continuation of dialogue but a recalibration of Britain’s South Asia strategy — one that fuses trade pragmatism with democratic principles, and innovation with strategic depth.
Starmer’s visit to New Delhi and Mumbai was emblematic of Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy evolution. Accompanied by senior ministers and over 125 CEOs, entrepreneurs, and academic leaders, Starmer underscored London’s renewed focus on emerging economies like India. The two leaders held bilateral talks in Mumbai after their keynote addresses at the Global Fintech Fest, reaffirming the “upward trajectory” of the India–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The talks centered around the expansive Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) signed in July 2025, which both leaders expressed hope to see ratified soon. The revival of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was announced to oversee CETA’s implementation and guide future trade and investment cooperation. The agenda was forward-looking encompassing infrastructure, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, defense, education, and digital innovation.
The UK–India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB) was hailed as a model for sustainable growth, and both sides discussed improving connectivity through an upgraded India–UK Air Services Agreement. Starmer’s business delegation signaled robust investor confidence in India, reflecting a shift from transactional trade to long-term partnership rooted in innovation and shared growth.
Technology and innovation featured prominently in the dialogue. Both countries reaffirmed their commitment under the Technology Security Initiative (TSI), launching the India–UK Connectivity and Innovation Centre with £24 million in joint funding and a new Joint Centre for Artificial Intelligence to promote responsible AI in healthcare, climate, and fintech. This aligns with Britain’s broader South Asia engagement model of embedding itself in the region’s digital and innovation ecosystems to ensure long-term strategic relevance.
The partnership also deepened in critical minerals cooperation, biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and genomics. The newly established UK–India Critical Minerals Collaboration Guild and Phase 2 of the Supply Chain Observatory, with a new campus at IIT-ISM Dhanbad, underscored mutual efforts to secure resilient supply chains and counter China’s dominance in rare earth elements.
Defence and security cooperation saw significant movement. Both leaders agreed to finalize an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on maritime electric propulsion systems for Indian naval platforms and confirmed plans for government-to-government supply of Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems to boost India’s air defense under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. They also welcomed the port call of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group and Royal Navy’s participation in Exercise KONKAN with the Indian Navy.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a stable Indo-Pacific, including the creation of a Regional Maritime Security Centre of Excellence (RMSCE) under India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative. They jointly condemned terrorism “in all its forms,” specifically referring to the April 2025 Pahalgam attack, underscoring a unified stand against cross-border terrorism and radicalization.
On climate and clean energy, Modi and Starmer launched the India–UK Climate Finance Initiative to scale up green investments and announced a joint Climate Tech Start-up Fund under a new MoU between the UK Government and the State Bank of India. They also agreed to expand cooperation in offshore wind, energy transition, and sustainable finance through the Global Clean Power Alliance (GCPA).
Education and people-to-people ties also took center stage, with approvals for multiple UK university campuses across India, including Southampton, Liverpool, York, Aberdeen, and Bristol. These moves mark a new era of educational diplomacy where talent mobility and knowledge exchange will underpin bilateral trust. The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to the Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP), calling the Indian diaspora a “living bridge” between two democracies.
Parallel to Starmer’s India visit, UK Trade Envoy Rosie Winterton’s meetings in Dhaka added another dimension to Britain’s South Asia calculus one defined by governance and democratic resilience. Her dialogue with Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus focused on reform, clean energy, and transparency. Yunus’s admission that past elections were a “mockery of democracy,” coupled with his pledge for free and fair polls by February 2026, reflected a moment of introspection in Bangladesh’s political transition. Britain’s engagement here was less about trade, more about trust a deliberate balancing of economic ambition in India with value-based diplomacy in Bangladesh.
This dual-track diplomacy reveals the evolving face of Britain’s engagement with South Asia. In India, London’s approach is pragmatic and growth-driven a quest to secure new markets, supply chains, and strategic partners in a post-Brexit order. In Bangladesh, it is more principled, prioritizing governance, reform, and regional stability. The two tracks converge in a single goal: reasserting the UK’s relevance in a region increasingly defined by the interplay of power, politics, and prosperity.
For London, however, the challenge lies in maintaining equilibrium. Trade and trust are not naturally synchronized; one operates through contracts, the other through credibility. Britain’s success in India will depend on the materialization of the CETA and concrete business outcomes; in Bangladesh, it will rest on its ability to nurture democratic stability without being seen as paternalistic or interventionist.
By blending commerce with conscience, Britain is attempting to rewrite its post-Brexit narrative. Starmer’s India visit and Winterton’s Dhaka outreach together signal a broader reorientation a recognition that soft power and strategic influence are most effective when deployed in tandem. South Asia, with its mix of economic dynamism and democratic volatility, provides both the challenge and the opportunity for Britain to prove that duality can be diplomatic strength.
As the visit concluded, both Modi and Starmer hailed the renewed partnership as a milestone in advancing the India–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, anchored in shared democratic values, innovation-driven growth, and a vision for global peace and prosperity. In the words of one senior diplomat, “This is not just about trade deals or defence cooperation it’s about reimagining the India–UK story for the next century.”
If London sustains this momentum and successfully integrates trade with trust, it may yet find in South Asia not just partners, but pillars supporting its redefined role in a multipolar world where influence will belong to those who can balance ideals with interest and history with hope.
– Dr. M Shahid Siddiqui | WNN I Follow via X @shahidsiddiqui
