S Jaishankar meets FCDO Permanent Under-Secretary Philip Barton in Delhi

"Glad to meet @PhilipRBarton Permanent-Undersecretary at @FCDOGovUK today morning," Jaishankar on Monday tweeted on his official Twitter handle @DrSJaishankar.

"Discussed our expanding bilateral relationship including progress under our Roadmap 2030 and global issues," he further wrote.

Barton in response tweeted: "Thank you Dr. Jaishankar for the warm words. Congratulations once again on India's G20 Presidency. The UK remains committed to working collaboratively with you to tackle the biggest global challenges."

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom.

The FCDO's duty according to information on the UK government's official website, gov.uk, is to pursue Britain's national interests and project the UK as a force for good in the world.

"We promote the interests of British citizens, safeguard the UK's security, defend our values, reduce poverty and tackle global challenges with our international partners," according to the FCDO website.

Prior to his appointment as the Permanent Under Secretary of FCDO, Barton was the British High Commissioner to India.

Recently, the High Commissioner of India to the UK, Vikram K Doraiswami and Matthew Rycroft, the permanent secretary at the Home Office of the UK signed and exchanged letters for formalising the Young Professional Scheme at an event in London.

The event took place at the High Commission of India in London.

Rycroft is a diplomat serving as Permanent Under-Secretary of the UK at the Home Office since 2020.

"HC @VDoraiswami & PUS Home @MatthewRycroft1 signed & exchanged the letters for formalising the Young Professional Scheme at an event @HCI_London today. Further details and implementation date will be shared soon. @MEAIndia @PIBHomeAffairs @ukhomeoffice @DoC_GoI @ANI @DDNewslive," the official handle of the High Commission of India in London tweeted.

India and the United Kingdom, recently, held technical discussions across 11 policy areas over 28 sessions during the sixth round of talks for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which concluded on December 16.

In a joint outcome statement on the UK-India sixth round of FTA negotiations, the UK government's Department of International Trade said that detailed draft treaty text discussions were held across the 11 policy areas.

The seventh round of official-level negotiations is due to take place in early 2023.

Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch visited India to initiate the sixth round of the UK-India FTA negotiations on December 12-13.

She met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal "where they welcomed the newest round of talks and discussed wider trade and investment opportunities for the UK and India". (ANI)