British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with leading industrialist Gautam Adani in Gujarat during his visit to India, which began on April 21. The meeting between Johnson and Adani group's chairperson Gautam Adani lasted for an hour.
Adani is funding a new gallery to highlight the perils of climate change at the historic Science Museum of London. The gallery - Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery - was announced last October when Adani had a lunch meeting with Johnson.
Industrialist Gautam Adani tweeted, "Honoured to host Boris Johnson, the first UK PM to visit Gujarat, at Adani HQ. Delighted to support climate & sustainability agenda with focus on renewables, green H2 & new energy. Will also work with UK companies to co-create defence & aerospace technologies. #AtmanirbharBharat"
The UK prime minister hopes to strike new economic deals between Britain and its huge former colony worth over £1 billion in areas including software engineering and health.
He also aims to coax India away from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, maintained that Britain wants to “provide alternative options for defense procurement and energy for India to diversify its supply chains away from Russia” without lecturing the government “on what course of action was best for them.”
Science and tech collaborations, including a digital health partnership and a joint investment fund for Indian deep-tech and AI start-ups, supported by both the governments; new AI scholarships for Indian students jointly funded by the UK government’s Chevening programme and India’s Adani Group; and a £6 million investment by AI healthcare specialists Qure.ai to open a centre of excellence in the UK are set to be announced.
He began his visit with a roadshow from the Ahmedabad airport to his hotel on Thursday morning. In the city, he will visit the Gandhi Ashram, and later go to Gujarat Biotechnology University, Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar and also a plant of JCB company at Halol near Vadodara city, sources told PTI. He is also expected to hold a closed-door meeting with a “leading businessman from the state”, PTI reported.
