India and UK civil nuclear pact might witness “some progress” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Britain a day after Diwali.

Civil nuclear cooperation and defence are going to be the main focus areas of this visit in terms of big-ticket deals and investments, sources told BusinessLine.

While briefing reporters here today the foreign secretary S. Jaishankar also hinted that “there could be something” with UK on civil nuclear deal under the larger gambit of energy cooperation.

Although he asserted that the deal with India will be different from what the multi-million pound nuclear deal UK is planning to have with China.

Last week British foreign secretary Philip Hammond had said a “package of deliverables” will be announced when Modi visits there.

“Different countries do things in different ways. As the Indian economy has a very large and important private sector, many of the deals will be commercial and private sector deals rather than government to government deals," he added,” Hammond had stated in London.

The nuclear cooperation was agreed on July 2010.

Modi will be meeting Cameron twice during his two-day visit there.  They will first meet at 10 Downing Street, the iconic British government headquarters on November 12 and in Chequers or Chequers Court, which is a private retreat of the British PM on November 13.  This is a first by any Indian Prime Minister.

“There will be an agreement on defence and security partnerships. There would also be a statement on energy and climate change,” Jaishankar added.

Modi, who is also going to be the first Prime Minister to address the British Parliament, will be having a luncheon with Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace, a rare honour given to any heads of state.

Prime Minister will also be visiting the Jagua Land Rover factory owned by Tatas at Solihull.

Concluding his visit on November 14 in Britain, Modi will be heading to Turkey for the G-20 Summit.

Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, who is also Modi’s Sherpa in G20 said India will push for the proposed BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting).

“This is a part of our inititative, we will surely ask other countries to join in,” he said.

He said the Prime Minister will also be asking the G20 leaders to not to shelve the Doha round of global trade talks under the World Trade Organisation, which will be having its 10th ministerial in Nairobi in December.

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