Interaction With The British High Commissioner In India

The British High Commissioner in India, His Excellency Sir Richard Stagg had a very useful and candid exchange of views with a distinguished gathering of former Service Chiefs, Heads of Intelligence Services, Diplomats and domain experts at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 16 September 2010. Welcoming the British High Commissioner, Mr. Ajit Doval, the Director VIF pointed out that India and Britain have a unique relationship evolved not only through the historical affiliation, but also driven by its future potential.

His Excellency Sir Richard Stagg, thereafter, made a succinct presentation on India-UK relations, especially after the change of government in the UK. He spoke of Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent visit to India and the importance the new government attached to the India-UK relationship. Indeed, the Conservative Party manifesto had clearly indicated the need to build a special relationship with India. This had also featured in the Queen’s address to the Parliament, which was significant because normally such an address deals only with legislative matters. Elaborating on the rationale for a special relationship between the two countries, Sir Richard drew attention to the many shared values of commonality in policies between them concluding that both had stakes in each other’s success.

The High Commissioner gave a detailed expose’ of the new government’s policies on a variety of issues including Climate Change, Afghanistan, Trade, Security, the EU, etc. This talk was followed by a lively Question-Answer session.