India inaugurates fourth Consulate in UK in Manchester after London, Edinburgh and Birmingham

NEW DELHI March 10: India’s two new consulates at Belfast in Northern Ireland and Manchester in Britain have been inaugurated by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, who said the missions will help deepen trade and people-to-people ties between the two countries.

Inaugurating India’s fourth consulate in the UK at Manchester on Saturday, Jaishankar said the Indian side is making up for a lot of things it should have done earlier since it has been almost 40 years since New Delhi last opened a consulate in Britain. Besides the high commission in London, India had consulates in Edinburgh and Birmingham.

The new consulates are part of steps to enhance relations between the two sides, which are expected to get a boost with the finalisation of a proposed free trade agreement (FTA). “It is a much deeper, closer partnership between India and the UK. The FTA is very much at the heart of that in the near term,” he said.

Last month, India and the UK resumed negotiations for the FTA after a hiatus of almost a year because of elections held in both countries in 2024. The talks began in January 2022 and the Labour Party government formed in the UK last year has said it intends to take a fresh look at aspects of the trade deal negotiated by the previous Conservative Party government.

Jaishankar noted that India’s trade with the Manchester region is currently worth 700 million pounds and more than 300 Indian firms have a presence in the area. He said the proposed FTA will be about more than trade and investment as it will be a game-changer for bilateral relations.

“This step delivers on the longstanding desire of our community and friends of India in Manchester. Confident that this latest addition to our presence in the UK will strengthen people-to-people, cultural, trade and, of course, cricket ties,” he added on X.

Jaishankar met British deputy prime minister Angela Rayner in Manchester and discussed bilateral ties and efforts to increase trade and people-to-people exchanges. He also interacted with Indian community and business leaders at the Old Trafford in Manchester.

Earlier, Jaishankar inaugurated the Indian consulate at Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. He said this consulate will serve the needs of the Indian community and help in exploring cooperation in trade, technology, business and education. It is also part of India’s efforts to set up new missions around the world to cater to the needs of a growing diaspora, he said.

“We saw in Belfast a meeting place in many ways between our UK policy and our European policies. We could see that this had privileged access to both…We are negotiating FTAs with both UK and the EU in parallel, which we hope to conclude at an early date,” he said.

Jaishankar met Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly and junior minister Aisling Reilly in Belfast and discussed possibilities for deepening India’s engagement with the region, especially in skills, cyber, tech, creative industries and manufacturing. He also visited Queen’s University in Belfast, which is setting up a campus at GIFT City in Gujarat.