India, UK To Kick-Off Negotiations for Free Trade Agreement Today

New Delhi, January 13: The UK and India will launch negotiations on an ambitious Free Trade Agreement at an event in New Delhi on Thursday, said Britain's Department for International Trade on Wednesday (local time).

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will meet UK's International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan here to formally start talks on a deal that could create huge benefits for both countries, said the UK Department for International Trade in a press release on Wednesday (local time). Also Read | New Nasal Spray Effective Against All COVID-19 Variants, Can Prevent Infection Upto 8 Hours; Check Details Here.

The agreement will create huge benefits for both countries and could boost our total trade by up to euro 28 billion a year by 2035 and increase wages by up to euro 3 billion across the UK, the release added. Trevelyan is in New Delhi to officially launch negotiations on a new ambitious free trade deal with the world's biggest democracy. Also Read | Omicron ‘Dangerous’ Virus For Unvaccinated People, Warns WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The UK wants an agreement that slashes barriers to doing business and trading with India's euro 2 trillion economy and market of 1.4 billion consumers, including cutting tariffs on exports of British-made cars and Scotch whisky.

"A trade deal with India's booming economy offers huge benefits for British businesses, workers and consumers," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the statement on Wednesday.

"As we take our historic partnership with India to the next level, the UK's independent trade policy is creating jobs, increasing wages and driving innovation across the country," he added.

A deal with India would be a big step forward in the UK's strategy to refocus trade on the Indo-Pacific, home to half of the world's population and 50 per cent of global economic growth. A new economic partnership with India, alongside UK membership of the massive Asia-Pacific trading bloc, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), will create a pillar in the region supporting free and fair trade.

The UK has world-class businesses and expertise we can rightly be proud of, from Scotch whisky distillers to financial services and cutting-edge renewable technology. We are seizing the opportunities offered in the growing economies of the Indo-Pacific to cement our place on the global stage and deliver jobs and growth at home.

India is one of the world's biggest and fastest-growing economies and a bold new deal would put UK businesses at the front of the queue to supply India's growing middle class, forecast to increase to a quarter of a billion consumers by 2050. India is set to become the world's third-biggest economy by 2050, with a bigger population than the US and EU combined.

A deal has the potential to almost double UK exports to India, boost Britain's total trade by as much as euro 28 billion a year by 2035, and increase wages across the UK by up to euro 3 billion. Investment from Indian companies already supports 95,000 jobs across the UK. "A deal with India is a golden opportunity to put UK businesses at the front of the queue as the Indian economy continues to grow rapidly. By 2050 India will be the world's third-largest economy with a middle class of almost 250 million shoppers," said UK's International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan in the statement.

"We want to unlock this huge new market for our great British producers and manufacturers across numerous industries from food and drink to services and automotive," Trevelyan added.

As an independent, deal-making nation the UK is broadening our economic horizons and forging stronger partnerships with the fastest-growing economies of the world. India marks the start of our ambitious 5-star year of UK trade and will show how the deals we negotiate will boost the economies across all nations and help level up all regions of the UK.

The negotiations will aim to double trade with India by 2030 - supercharging the growth of the UK's trading relationship which totalled over euro 23bn in 2019, according to the UK Department for International Trade.

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