Real challenge lies in implementation of Gaza peace plan: UK envoy

New Delhi: Expressing relief over the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron on Friday said that the real challenge lies in the implementation of the peace plan as it is just the beginning of the process and not the end.

“I am from Northern Ireland and for me it is very personal. The ceasefire is the beginning of the process, it is not the end. There are many years of work to go and many challenges ahead, but you must start because violence is not a way to resolve this. There is a complex journey. There are tough decisions. There are huge implementation challenges,” Cameron said at the NDTV World Summit.

Having worked in the Middle East for long, the High Commissioner highlighted the significance of sustaining the ceasefire.

“I have worked in the Middle East for long. It is very hard to predict how it will go… I am just hopeful that we see peace. The profound sense of relief that everybody felt when the hostages returned this week, that profound sense of hope and optimism is something we must hold on to. The challenge will be in implementation,” she mentioned.

Cameron also described British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent visit to India as “fantastic” while recalling the warm welcome extended to the leader and the accompanying delegation in Mumbai. She said that UK sees its ties with India as “future facing partnership” and referred to people of Indian origin in the UK an “amazing living bridge.”

She also recalled Starmer’s visit to the Yash Raj Studios, where he watched the ‘Romantics’ trailer.

“As we received the Prime Minister, the Business Secretary, the Scottish Secretary, our Investment Minister, 126 people, the Prime Minister joked that they had to hire a larger plane because there were so many people that wanted to come. So, it was genuinely a wonderful visit, and I think Mumbai couldn’t have hosted us better. I think there were more than 5,000 posters around the whole of Mumbai, and they were lit up on the sea link as well.

“So, a genuinely warm welcome, and I think that comes to the relationship between the two Prime Ministers, also between the two nations. We see this as a genuinely future-facing partnership where we see a fantastic set of existing ties. Almost two million people in the UK of Indian origin, that is an amazing living bridge. But actually, what that ought to be is a superpower for the future, where we turn that into amazing opportunities for businesses to work together and that’s what I saw happening,” Cameron said.

Earlier this month, Starmer arrived in Mumbai for a two-day visit to India at the invitation of PM Narendra Modi. This was Starmer’s first official visit to India after assuming office. During the visit, Starmer held a meeting with Prime Minister Modi, with talks focused on boosting ties.

The British High Commissioner also spoke about the recent India-UK defence Exercise Konkan, terming it a “real signal” that the UK sees India as a significant power of the future.

“We were delighted that the Indian carrier and the UK carrier were able to undertake quite a complex exercise off the west coast of India, last week. I think really testing each other, some fantastic pictures of our aircraft flying together and indeed of the two carriers together and I think it is a real signal that we see India as a significant power of the future. We want to see India as its best self in the future, and we want to be part of that as well in terms of our defence relationship. So, the carriers are important, and of course our naval cooperation is really significant. We’ve had a number of conversations in the course of the last year about the importance, for example, of the maritime security in the Indian Ocean… But, we’ve also signed a letter of intent around the electric propulsion for ships, one of these really innovative future things which the UK has long experimented with, but I think is a really key part of India’s future too.

“And of course, finally, we had as part of the UK delegation last week, the CEO of Rolls-Royce, Tufan Erginbilgic, who was here describing the kind of wider vision for how we think UK defence and wider civilian capability and power, for example, can participate in India’s future, including made in India. So, I think real opportunities, and I think for us, there is a future thinking about both of our security, but there’s also a future thinking about both of our prosperity and we see huge opportunities and huge complementarity for us across those industries, for our industries to work together,” she added in her remarks at the NDTV World Summit.

IANS