British counterpart Gavin Williamson turned down a request for a bilateral meeting by being putative about Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a media report in the UK. On the the same report, Sitharaman has expressed disappointment calling it “baseless”. British ministers including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reportedly solicit to convince Mr Williamson of the importance of finding time for Ms Sitharaman when the meeting was requested over a month ago by Indian officials.
Ms Sitharaman tweeted “Disappointed, Sunday Times (UK). Baseless story, to say the least. The UK & India have a robust relationship. A mutually convenient date is being worked out for meeting & I look forward to it.”
Mr Williamson responded to her tweet: “And I very much look forward to it too.”
Mr Williamson declined to meet Ms Sitharaman’s three-day window of bilateral talks on security cooperation and defense procurement between June 20 and 22 claimed The Sunday Times report.
“People are spitting blood about this” said the newspaper quoting a UK government source.
The Sunday Times quoted the source as saying that “India has one of the fastest-growing defense budgets in the world, spending something like USD 50 billion a year. It feels like another ill-judged move by Williamson.”
Mr Williamson has been accused of angering one of the world’s largest emerging economies by snubbing his Indian counterpart, said the report.
“It would of course have been really good if Williamson could have spared some time, but let’s also not kid ourselves that the Indians will have lost too much sleep over it,” said Manoj Ladwa, the founder of UK-India Week organised in London and Buckinghamshire between June 18 and 22.
A battery of senior political and business figures were attracted in the event, which included a two-day conclave and UK-India Awards.
The report said Mr Williamson has been accused of angering one of the world’s largest emerging economies by snubbing his Indian counterpart.
Manoj Ladwa, the founder of UK-India Week organised in London and Buckinghamshire between June 18 and 22, said: “It would of course have been really good if Williamson could have spared some time, but let’s also not kid ourselves that the Indians will have lost too much sleep over it”.
The event, which included a two-day conclave and UK-India Awards, attracted a battery of senior political and business figures.
From the Indian side, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar was joined by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal via live video link from New Delhi. Ms Sitharaman had been expected as the senior-most Indian attendee but the visit was put off as a meeting with Mr Williamson did not work out.
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