UK minister Tariq Ahmad in India to boost ties

UK's Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, is currently in India to further strengthen UK-India relations.

Ahmad is also Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.

While in New Delhi, Ahmad will promote the UK's role as a force for good, working with India on major global challenges such as climate change and gender equality, celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth, and lay the foundations for a prosperous and strengthened trading relationship.

Ahmad is expected to meet the Indian Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Textiles, and Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, and Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, amongst others.

Ahmad said: "I am delighted to be here in India, a place that holds a special place in my heart. The UK aspires to be a Force for Good around the world and I look forward to strengthening our collaboration with India on global challenges that are threatening our world, in particular climate change and gender equality."

"As we leave the European Union, our partnership with India across an array of sectors from trade and education, to climate change and the rule of law will be more important than ever. I am keen while I am here to also build on the Living Bridge of people-to-people links that bind our two countries so closely."

Ahmad will also lay a wreath at Raj Ghat, meet the winner of the British High Commission New Delhi's 'High Commissioner for a Day' competition and visit Jamia Milia Islamia to speak to students about climate change, inter-faith, diversity and equality in India and the UK, the British High Commission said in a statement.

Ahmad's mother was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and his father in Gurdaspur, Punjab.