Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listens to the speech of China's President Xi Jinping during the opening ceremony of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, September 4, 2016. REUTERS/Nicolas Asfonri/Pool

HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on Monday to look at ways to retain strong trading links after Britain leaves the European Union, a British official said.

“The Indians said they wanted to look at how we could continue to have a strong trading relationship and there was agreement that as we prepare to leave the EU, we should be exploring what that looks like,” the official said.

“Prime Minister Modi said that we had always been an important partner for India and nothing about leaving the European Union would change that.”

The two leaders were meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.