India and the UK trade ministers on Saturday reviewed the progress of ongoing negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). The discussions between the two nations have reached the final stage.
Both the nation’s respective ministers are in Japan currently for the Group of Seven (G7) trade ministers meeting in Osaka. The developments were reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch, reported PTI.
Goyal informed via the social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter) that he and the UK trade minister ‘discussed the progress of India-UK Free Trade Agreement negotiations’.
Discussed the progress of India-UK Free Trade Agreement negotiations with @KemiBadenoch, UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade. pic.twitter.com/BufI8nkAJv
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) October 28, 2023
Currently, discussions between the officials of both countries on going on to remove differences on issues like rules of origin and the services sector, with the target of concluding these talks for the FTA as soon as possible.
Notably, India and the UK initiated discussions for a trade agreement in January 2022, with Diwali 2022 as the deadline for concluding these talks. However, the negotiations had to be postponed due to political developments in the UK.
The agreement involves 26 chapters, including goods, services, investments, and intellectual property rights. Both countries are also negotiating an investment treaty as a separate agreement, which involves facilitating the promotion and protection of investments by parties in the other nation.
The major disagreement regarding the FTA is about the mechanism for settlement of disputes. The industry in India is asking for greater access for it’s skilled professionals from sectors such as IT, and healthcare in the UK market, apart from market access for several goods at nil customs duty.
While the UK is looking for a major reduction in import duties on goods like scotch whiskey, automobiles, lamb meat, chocolates, and certain confectionary items, and hoping to tap into more opportunities for UK services in Indian markets in segments like telecommunications, legal, and financial services.
Notably, the bilateral trade between India and the UK has increased to $20.36 billion in the previous fiscal year, against $17.5 billion in 2021-22. Additionally, Goyal also held bilateral discussions in Osaka with the US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell, among others.
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