Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal and his British counterpart Anne-Marie Trevelyan will meet in New Delhi on Thursday.
Britain’s Trade Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan speaks during an interview with Reuters on October 13, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo: Reuters)
Britain and India will formally begin free trade agreement talks in New Delhi on Thursday, calling for the free movement of goods and people, which is projected to boost bilateral trade worth billions of pounds.
Britain has made an agreement with India one of its post-Brexit priorities, as freed from the EU’s common trade policy, ministers to move trade policy towards fast-growing economies around the Indo-Pacific. lets see.
Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal and his British counterpart Anne-Marie Trevelyan will meet in New Delhi on Thursday, with the first round of talks beginning next week.
“A deal with India is a golden opportunity to put UK businesses at the forefront as the Indian economy continues to grow,” Trevelyan said in a statement.
Britain said the deal could nearly double British exports to India, and increase total trade to 28 billion pounds ($38.3 billion) per year by 2035. According to British figures, the total trade in 2019 was 23 billion pounds.
The minister wants to tap into the wealth of India’s middle classes and their appetite for premium British products like Scotch whisky. He also hopes that India can become a major customer of its green technology industry, and the existing services sector trade routes can be strengthened.
India and former colonial power Britain already share strong trade ties, and more than a million people of Indian origin live in Britain after decades of emigration.
India is exploring more and more opportunities for Indians To live and work in the UK, and any trade deal may depend on the easing of rules and reduced fees for Indian students and professionals traveling to the UK.
Low tariff access to Indian markets in return for free movement is expected to become a key dynamic in the negotiations and will test Britain’s negotiating power with any concessions on immigration likely to face domestic opposition.
The two sides have already negotiated an enhanced trading partnership, which was announced last year, and may choose to sign a limited-scope interim free trade agreement while broader talks continue.
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