Working hard to finalise trade pact with India, says Rishi Sunak

New Delhi, Sep 8: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday said that his government is working "very hard" to conclude the free trade agreement with India.

Sunak, who arrived on Friday afternoon to attend the G20 summit, said that both the countries want to make the deal work.

"We're working very hard, as I said, on our shared ambition of concluding an ambitious and comprehensive trade deal between India and the UK, because both of us think that would be a good thing and both of us need to make sure it works for our two countries. And at forums like this, I am very keen to support prime minister Modi in making sure that this G20 is an enormous success for India, which I know it will be," Sunak was quoted as saying by reports.

This is Sunak's first official visit to India after assuming office as Prime Minister in October last year.

He also touched upon violent incidents involving pro-Khalistan elements in the UK. 

“It's a really important question and let me just say unequivocally that no form of extremism or violence like that is acceptable in the UK. And that's why we are working very closely with the Indian government to particularly tackle 'PKE' Pro-Khalistan Extremism. I don't think it's right,” he said.

“Our security minister recently was just in India talking to his counterparts. We have working groups together to share intelligence and information so that we can root out this kind of violent extremism. It's not right and I won't tolerate it in the UK,” Sunak added.

India had expressed concerns over increasing activities by pro-Khalistani extremists in the UK, especially the attack on the Indian high commission in London in March this year.

Ahead of his arrival in India, in a post on X, the UK prime minister had said, "I'm heading to the #G20 Summit with a clear focus. Stabilising the global economy. Building international relationships. Supporting the most vulnerable. This action is part of that Putin again has failed to show up for the G20, but we will show up with support for Ukraine."