British PM Rishi Sunak joins UK-India NSA meeting

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a ''special gesture'' briefly joined a meeting here between India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his UK counterpart Tim Barrow and assured his government's full support to deepen bilateral strategic partnership in sectors like trade and defence.

Doval and Barrow met at the UK Cabinet Office, a department responsible for supporting the prime minister.

''A special gesture by PM @rishisunak to join for a while India-UK NSA dialogue between Sir Tim Barrow & Mr Doval at @cabinetofficeuk,'' the Indian High Commission tweeted on Saturday.

''Deeply value PM's assurance of his Govts full support to deepen strategic partnership in trade, defence, S&T. Look forward to the visit of Sir Tim to India soon,'' it added.

Doval's trip to London follows his visit to the US where he met America's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.