London [UK], October 7 (ANI): In a special gesture, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood with his business delegation for a photo at London's Heathrow Airport before departing for India on a two-day visit, which will have economic ties as a key focus area.

This will be Prime Minister Starmer's first official visit to India.

During the visit, on October 9 in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Prime Ministers will take stock of progress in diverse aspects of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in line with 'Vision 2035', a focused and time bound 10-year Roadmap of programmes and initiatives in key pillars of trade and investment, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate and energy, health, education and people to people relations.

Both leaders will engage with businesses and industry leaders on opportunities presented by the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as a central pillar of the future India-UK economic partnership.

They will also exchange views on issues of regional and global importance.

The two Prime Ministers will attend the 6th edition of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai and deliver keynote addresses.

The leaders will also engage with industry experts, policymakers and innovators.

The visit will build on the momentum and substance generated by the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the UK in July this year. It will provide a valuable opportunity to reaffirm the shared vision of India and the United Kingdom to build a forward-looking partnership.

India and the United Kingdom had in July this year signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a bilateral free trade agreement marking a major milestone in their longstanding partnership. The agreement was signed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds in the presence of PM Modi and PM Starmer.

It reflected the shared ambition of two major economies to deepen economic ties. Bilateral trade has already reached USD 56 billion, with a target to double this by 2030. (ANI)