New Delhi: Aiming to double the trade and investment between two countries by end of the decade, India and the United Kingdom have fast-tracked their negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and will hold their fifth round of talks in July.
The political leadership of two countries have set target to complete the deal by October this year.
Two month back in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Boris Johnson said they expected a “majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced free trade agreement” to be concluded by the end of October.
Another milestone towards #IndiaUKFTA & R4 concluded today moved forward with pace towards our goal with a spirit of mutual cooperation. Delighted to be joined by Mr Crawford Falconer and Thanks @harjinderkangUK and teams for constructive discussions pic.twitter.com/XDyvdr2EgY
— Nidhi Mani Tripathi (@nidhimanit) June 24, 2022
In the last few months, New Delhi has concluded FTA with the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
Johnson acknowledged at the time that there were difficult issues, such as tariffs on whisky, but said there is also a “massive push” from both governments to get the FTA done.
British High Commission in India has said that the two countries have concluded the fourth round of talks for an India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on June 24.
“Negotiation officials undertook these technical talks in a hybrid fashion – with some of the teams meeting in London and the majority of officials joining virtually,” it said.
For this round of negotiations, detailed draft treaty text was advanced across the majority of chapters, the high commission said.
“Technical experts from both sides came together for discussions in 71 separate sessions covering 20 policy areas,” it added.
