UK envoy Alex Ellis meets Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath
Oct 28, 2023
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 29 : United Kingdom High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis on Saturday held a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Ellis said that it was "great" to meet UP CM and hear his thoughts on greater collaboration with the UK in trade, education and sustainability.
Taking to X, Alex Ellis stated, "Great to meet with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, hearing his thoughts on greater collaboration with the UK in trade, education and sustainability. Thank you for your time and thoughts."
On October 21, Alex Ellis said that the successful Test Vehicle Abort Mission a part of the Gaganyaan Project shows India's 'ambition' and 'capability' of India.
"That's wonderful news. You know everyone was so impressed by what happened with Chandrayaan, which was successful just before the G-20 summit, it really created the right sort of atmosphere for it and shows the kind of ambition and the capability of India today," he said.
He made the statement after Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath announced the success of the 'TV-D1' (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) in the Gaganyaan Mission.
The test vehicle abort mission was successfully executed on the second attempt after it had faced an engine ignition problem at 8:45 am.
When asked about UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's visit to India, Ellis said, "I know he would love to come. We have to do that when we have the Free Trade Agreement. People are very hard at work on that. They're really trying to push to get a nice balanced and ambitious agreement between the two. So hopefully we can make progress. But let's get those negotiations done first."
India and the UK are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement, talks for which had begun in 2022. The 12th round of negotiations for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) took place from August 8 to 31 this year.
The British envoy also expressed his happiness as he visited the Durga Puja festival celebrations in Delhi and hailed the Indian festival and hospitality.
He added, "It's wonderful to be at Puja again. It's the 7th day. I think the day of Kali today. I think so the power, the Shakti of Kali is present. But it's a wonderful part of it for anyone who lives in India to participate in these both celebrations, but also very powerful expressions of faith and I've always loved India."
He said further, "I've always loved coming to Pandals and I've always enjoyed going to temples as well as to mosques and other places and so it's just a pleasure for me and I feel very welcomed by the Bengali community here."
