Top UK Diplomat In India Presents Credentials To President

Sumaira FH Published July 08, 2020 | 03:17 PM

UK High Commissioner to India Philip Barton presented his credentials to the country's president, Nath Kovind, in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, the diplomatic mission said

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) UK High Commissioner to India Philip Barton presented his credentials to the country's president, Nath Kovind, in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, the diplomatic mission said.

"It is the greatest honour and privilege of my diplomatic career to represent the UK in this wonderful country," Barton was quoted as saying during the ceremony.

The diplomat said that the UK government was looking forward to an even stronger trade and economic partnership with India now that his country has left the European Union.

"I recognise that I am arriving at an extraordinarily difficult time.

Coronavirus is without precedent in modern times, but it has also brought out the importance of the modern partnership between the UK and India," he added.

Barton praised UK-Indian collaboration on a vaccine and efforts to secure essential supplies for health workers, saying he saw his job in India as ensuring that this partnership grows.

The 56-year-old is a career civil servant. He was posted in New Delhi in the 1990s as well as in Caracas, Cyprus, in Gibraltar as deputy governor and in Washington as deputy ambassador. He served as British high commissioner to Pakistan from 2014-2016.