Keen on Make-in-India in defence, aerospace: Outgoing UK envoy Lindy Cameron
British High Commissioner Lindy Cameron (Express photo by Anil Sharma)
Calling India’s proposal for a ceasefire in the Black Sea region a “symbol” of a “big global player”, Lindy Cameron, the outgoing British High Commissioner to India, said Thursday that the UK has identified “defence, security and technology” as the pillars of bilateral ties and wants to participate in Make-in-India programmes in the defence and aerospace sector.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Cameron, who is set to become Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom (equivalent to India’s Foreign Secretary), described the UK-India “trade deal” as the high point of her Delhi stint, the effort of “turning it into a wider and deeper relationship between the two countries, and really importantly seeing that as a future-facing relationship”.
On India’s proposal on the Russia-Ukraine war, she said, “For me, this symbolises that move by India to be a player in a wider conversation where, of course, India has an extraordinary and really diverse set of relationships to build on, some quite unique.” India has put forward a proposal to end attacks in the Black Sea region, and allow movement of grains.
On the defence sector, Cameron said, “The proudest moment I have is seeing Rolls Royce genuinely in a position to make an absolutely world-leading offer, not only best time to first flight, but also really amazing IP (intellectual property) transfer as a potential candidate for building India’s future combat jet engine.”
Asked about the change of guard in the UK — Keir Starmer making way for Andy Burnham — she said, “We have seen changes in UK politics, and that’s for politicians rather than me as a civil servant. But what’s been constant is the importance of India.”
On the friction points between the two countries, she said, “We have a relationship of depth and trust that means that the sore points are things we can discuss privately. We have tough conversations, but we have them in private, and we have them with friends.”
On the key learnings that she takes home, Cameron said, “I will take with me an understanding of India’s worldview. I think when you sit in Delhi, you sit in a different geography. You see the world from a different perspective. You see the world with a different history. You see the world with a different scale, actually, and that is all something that I will take with me to London. It’s probably part of why I got the job, in all honesty.”
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She leaves India over the weekend, and will join as the Permanent Under-Secretary Monday.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 27 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting and writing explainers and analysis on foreign affairs for about 19 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He won the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award, 2023, for the second time for his reporting of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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