 "Jaishankar speaks to British foreign secretary Cleverly on bilateral ties")
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke to his British counterpart James Cleverly focusing on various aspects of bilateral ties and India's G-20 presidency.
The phone conversation came ahead of the British foreign secretary's likely visit to India to attend a meeting of the G-20 foreign ministers on March 1 and 2.
"Received a call from UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly. Reviewed our bilateral relationship and discussed the agenda of India's G20 Presidency," Jaishankar tweeted.
It was the first phone conversation between Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Cleverly after a controversy broke out over a two-part BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
India dismissed the documentary as a "propaganda piece" saying it is designed to push a particular "discredited narrative".
It is understood that the implementation of a 10-year roadmap between India and the UK to bolster the ties in diverse areas figured in the phone conversation.
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However, it is not known whether Jaishankar and Cleverly touched upon the proposed free trade agreement between the two sides.
The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then British counterpart Boris Johnson in May, 2021.
At the summit, the two sides adopted a 10-year roadmap to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections among others.
The two sides have been engaged in negotiations for a free trade agreement as well.
Prime Minister Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak held talks in Bali in November on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
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