LONDON: The UK and Indian governments will announce their first enhanced trade partnership on Tuesday as a precursor to a free trade agreement when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian PM Narendra Modi hold a virtual meeting.
A billion pounds (Rs 10,000 crore) in new UK-India trade and investment will also be announced. This will include an investment of £240 million (Rs 2,400 crore) by the Serum Institute of India in the UK to support clinical trials, research and development and “possibly manufacturing of vaccines” in Britain, Downing Street said. SII has already started phase one trials in the UK of a nasal vaccine against Covid-19 in partnership with US biotech Codagenix Inc.