Sunak meets Modi, hails his leadership as UK-India ties go ‘from strength to strength’

Former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday and congratulated him on completing 25 years in public service. Praising PM Modi’s commitment and work ethic, Sunak said the UK-India relationship was going from “strength to strength” under his leadership.In a post on X, Sunak recalled working with PM Modi during his tenure as prime minister and highlighted the importance of closer cooperation between the two countries in trade, technology and artificial intelligence (AI).“Prime Minister Narendra Modi great to see you in New Delhi today. Congratulations on 25 years in public service, a remarkable achievement. It was a pleasure to work with you when I was Prime Minister,” Sunak wrote.Praising Modi’s approach to public service, he added, “Your commitment, your work ethic, your energy is an example to us all.”On bilateral ties, Sunak said, “The UK India relationship is going from strength to strength under your leadership. Our two countries cooperating more on trade, tech and AI is vital in a less predictable world.”He also expressed confidence in the future of the partnership, writing, “I know that Britain and India will continue to grow ever closer in the years ahead.”Earlier on Tuesday, Sunak spoke about the changing global order and the growing ability of countries such as India and those in the Gulf to pursue independent foreign policy positions amid increasing geopolitical uncertainty.Speaking at a panel discussion titled “The End of Predictability” at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 in New Delhi, Sunak said the world was moving away from the multilateral, rules-based framework that had shaped the global economy.“We all grew up investing in, operating in a multilateral rules-based framework, largely enforced by US President Trump is not a cause for that; he's a symptom of that, and the world that we're in now is one where we don't quite know what we've settled down to, and that creates an enormous amount of geopolitical uncertainty and indeed danger,” he said.Sunak also described China’s emergence as a strategic competitor to the United States as a significant shift.“So, China is a peer competitor for the US across economic, military, and technological domains. That is a new feature of the world economy,” he said.Meanwhile, India and the UK have agreed to exchange annual data on the utilisation of tariff concessions under their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The decision was taken at the 16th meeting of the India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) in New Delhi on Monday.Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds reviewed progress since the agreement came into force on July 15, 2026. The annual data exchange is intended to support smoother implementation and help more businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, benefit from the pact.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.