Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, was the Chief Guest and UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting the Guest of Honour at the High Commission of India’s annual Republic Day reception held amid the grandeur of the Guildhall in the City of London this week.
Scenes from the iconic parade down Kartavya Path in New Delhi that is held annually in New Delhi on January 26 formed the backdrop of the festivities, which also showcased some of the key highlights from the UK-India partnership over the past year.
“It makes perfect sense that our two great Parliaments should continue to cooperate and to learn from each other to strengthen our democracies,” said Sir Lindsay, in his address to the gathering.
Streeting highlighted the UK-India Health and Life Sciences Partnership which he signed with his Indian counterpart recently as another milestone in deepening cooperation towards an “equitable partnership between the UK and India”.
The minister said: “There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that India, as a global power, is going to do so much to shape our world and shape the prospects for humanity in this century. And that makes this relationship even more important.”
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Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami added: “It is natural that as nations with so much in common, our partnership is not only a natural choice, it is an obvious choice. After all, India's growth and development offer not only an economic opportunity for the UK to sustain its national wealth, but also to offer openings for real growth.”
A broad spectrum of cross-party MPs, peers, Heads of Diplomatic Missions in the UK, business leaders and prominent members of the Indian diaspora joined in the celebrations, which included a performance by the string quartet from the Chineke Foundation orchestra – made up of Ammal Bhatia and Sophia Kannathasan on the violin, Kesari Pundarika on viola and Meera Raja on cello.
