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Britain and India agreed on Friday to step up defence and business cooperation during a visit to New Delhi by Boris Johnson, who said a bilateral free-trade deal could be wrapped up by October, Reuters reported.

On his first visit to the Indian capital as UK prime minister, Johnson discussed with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi ways to boost security ties with India, which buys more than half of its military hardware from Russia.

Britain hopes its offer of closer security ties with the West will encourage India to cut its defence reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation"

"We had wonderful talks that have strengthened our relationship in every way," Johnson told a joint news briefing with Modi on the final day of his two-day trip.

"We have agreed a new and expanded defence and security partnership, a decades-long commitment that will not only forge tighter bonds between us, but support your goal of Make in India," he said, referring to Modi's domestic manufacturing push, according to Reuters.

Johnson said negotiators from the two countries were expected to complete a free-trade deal by the end of this year.

"We're telling our negotiators to get it done by Diwali in October. This could double our trade and investments by the end of the decade," he said.

Britain's efforts to bolster security ties follow an attempt last month by the United States to move India away from Russia, with its own offer of more defence and energy sales, after President Joe Biden called India "somewhat shaky" in acting against Russia.

India abstained from a United Nations vote condemning the invasion and has not imposed sanctions on Moscow, taking a stance that sparked off a recent flurry of diplomatic activity, such as visits by the foreign ministers of Russia and China.

Johnson said Britain would also support India’s goal of building its own fighter jets, to reduce expensive imports of military equipment. India now has a mix of Russian, British and French fighter jets, Reuters reported.

The Indian government last year gave a 480-billion-rupee ($6.28 billion) contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for 83 light-combat aircraft, Tejas, for delivery starting around 2023.

Johnson said Britain was also creating an India-specific open general export license to slash delivery times for defence items. Only the European Union and the United States currently have such licences, according to Reuters.

Birgunj Metropolitan City Mayor Bijay Kumar Sarawagi tendered his resignation on Friday.

Sarawagi, who is filing his candidacy again for the post of mayor from the CPN-UML in the upcoming local level elections, resigned from his post this afternoon.

The  Metropolitan Committee and the Province Committee of the party have already recommended the name of Sarawagi to the Central Committee as the mayoral candidate of the Birgunj Metropolitan City.

Sarawagi said that he resigned from the post as there is a provision in the election code of conduct that the local representatives must resign if they want to contest the local level elections.

The main opposition CPN-UML has made public its election manifesto on Friday.

Party Chairman KP Sharma Oli made public the election manifesto prepared by the Central Committee for the local level elections slated for May 13 amidst a program this afternoon.

The Central Committee endorsed the manifesto prepared by the Election Manifesto Drafting Committee.

General Secretary Shankar Pokharel said that the party will made public the commitment paper of 753 rural municipalities today itself.

American President Joseph R. Biden has expressed his government’s desire to advance the common agenda of the two countries and deepen the strong and abiding friendship between two countries.  

Acknowledging the receipt of the Letters of Credence from the newly appointed Nepali Ambassador to America Sridhar Khatri, Biden also welcomed the Nepali Ambassador as a member of the diplomatic corps in Washington D.C, according to a statement issued by Nepali Embassy in Washington.

Submitting his Letters of Credence to the White House through the Department of State, Ambassador Khatri addressed a note to the President conveying the best wishes and warm felicitations to Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. 

Ambassador thanked the President Biden for the continued support of the United States in the overall development efforts of Nepal and expressed his firm belief that the longstanding close friendship and partnership between the two countries will further deepen and expand in the days ahead.