Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest at India’s annual Republic Day Parade in January 2021, the United Kingdom has confirmed. Boris Johnson is only the second British leader since India’s independence to attend the Republic Day parade in New Delhi as guest of honour after John Major in 1993.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accepted India’s “very generous” invite to be the Republic Day chief guest at next month’s celebrations in Delhi, UK’s Foreign Secretary said today, calling it “a great honour”. He also said his presence at the annual celebrations “would be in a way symbolic of a new era, and a new phase of India-UK ties”. This will be Boris Johnson’s “first major bilateral visit” since he took charge last year, his office highlighted. “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 Narendra Modi and I have pledged to achieve,” the British PM said in a statement.
It was reported earlier that the invitation to be the chief guest at the 2021 Republic Day Parade was extended to PM Johnson by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their telephonic conversation late last month. Boris Johnson has also invited PM Modi to join the G7 summit next year in Britain, said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab; India would be one of the three guest countries. Mr Raab reached Delhi for a four-day India visit, and was welcomed by the Foreign Minister. Calling India “an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom”, Boris Johnson described the country as “pharmacy of the world” in remarks that assume significance at a time when the fight against coronavirus is raging.
