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India and the United Kingdom have resumed negotiations on a trade deal that is "balanced, mutually beneficial and forward-looking."
The announcement was made by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom Jonathan Reynolds, who is in the national capital. A Commerce Ministry release said the announcement is the outcome of discussions held between the Prime Ministers of the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Keir Starmer had met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November 2024 to underline the importance of resuming trade negotiations at an early date. The release said that India and the United Kingdom have a close partnership, built through collaboration on security and defence, new and emerging technologies, climate, health, education, research and innovation, green finance and people-to-people contacts. The collective aspiration to deliver economic growth and sustainable development is at the centre of this relationship. "Both sides have agreed to resume negotiations towards a balanced, mutually beneficial and a forward-looking deal that delivers mutual growth and builds on the strengths of the two complementary economies. The strengthening of the trading relationship between our two countries has the potential to unlock opportunities for business and consumers across both our nations and build further on our already deep ties," it said. Piyush Goyal and Jonathan Reynolds directed the negotiators to work together to resolve the outstanding issues in the agreement to ensure a fair and equitable trade deal for shared success. Speaking at the joint press conference, Goyal said it will be "a pathbreaking free trade agreement" that will give the businesses and people of both countries huge opportunities to grow the current USD 20 billion bilateral trade in merchandise to probably two to three times in the next ten years. "Both Jonathan and I have agreed to resume free trade agreement negotiations in a very cordial atmosphere," he said. The minister added that both sides have decided to build upon the strong groundwork that 14 previous rounds have developed. "I would like to call this FTA a forward-looking, transparent, ambitious, equitable, balanced and mutually beneficial agreement, which will be a win-win for both our countries," he added. Jonathan Reynolds said the resumption of negotiations for trade negotiations will strengthen close and vibrant partnership between the two countries. "It's an excellent place to start from, but both of us want to do more and that's why I am so pleased to be here today to kick-start these negotiations, to strengthen our close and vibrant relationship and unlock new opportunities for businesses and consumers across both the UK and India, because at the centre of my government is a mission to deliver economic growth, to put pounds back in people's pockets, to support our businesses, to thrive, to create wealth and jobs and opportunity," he said. Goyal said the two sides will move "quickly without being hurried". "Minister @PiyushGoyal announced the restart of the India-UK FTA negotiations today. At the joint press-briefing along with @JReynoldsMP, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, he reiterated that both sides are committed to a robust agreement benefiting people and businesses and that speed and not haste will be the approach of the negotiating teams," Piyush Goyal's office said in a post on X. The economic potential of enhanced trade between the UK and India is immense. UK and India rank as the sixth and fifth largest economies globally. India-UK FTA negotiations were launched on January 13 2022. Thirteen rounds of negotiations were held till December 2023. The 14th round of negotiations, which began on January 10 2024, was underway when negotiations were paused by the UK side in May 2024 due to their elections. (ANI)
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