India, UK complete fifth round of talks, aim to achieve FTA by October-end

The fifth round of talks for the India-UK FTA concluded on July 29, according to a press release issued by the ministry on Thursday. The press release also said that the ministry expects the FTA talks to be completed by the end of October.

The fifth round of FTA talks was conducted in hybrid mode, with some teams meeting physically in New Delhi, while most officials attended virtually.

Technical experts covered 15 policy areas in 85 different sessions and came up with a detailed draft treaty for discussion. The experts were from both India and Britain.

“India and UK officials will continue to work intensively throughout the summer towards our goal of ending most negotiations on a comprehensive and balanced free trade agreement by the end of October 2022,” the press release said.

A UK government statement said, “India and the UK work intensively to meet the Diwali deadline for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) announced during outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to India in late October.” will continue to do so.” Agency PTI.

India-UK talks for a free trade agreement were launched in January but were under cloud due to changing political equations in Britain. After the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it became a bit difficult to resume talks.

India UK trades mostly in services which accounts for about 70% of the total trade. The two countries also aim to increase their bilateral trade to $100 billion by the end of this decade.

The government is also planning similar FTAs ​​with Canada, the European Union and Israel. Many other economic blocs have similar interests.

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