\nNew Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): Formal negotiations for an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) are set to begin imminently and will be as comprehensive as possible to cover all aspects of the bilateral relationship, the president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
India-born Lord Karan Bilimoria was addressing the CBI\u2019s annual conference with a focus on the UK as a \u201cgreat trading nation\u201d, keen to increase post-Brexit trade with the European Union (EU) and beyond. He highlighted the \u201cenormous potential\u201d of the UK-India partnership, from easing the movement of people to slashing duties and tariffs on some of Britain\u2019s major exports.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor nearly four decades, all our trade deals were negotiated by the European Union. And, over the last five years, the UK\u2019s Department for International Trade did an incredible job; it signed trade agreements with 66 non-EU countries and one with the EU. A remarkable achievement, which many thought would be impossible,\u201d said Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of this, the CBI, I am proud to say, has played a major role with helping with new trade agreements, such as with the UK- Australia FTA. This was followed by our FTA with New Zealand, and an enhanced trade partnership with India \u2013 with a target to double bilateral trade by 2030. Formal negotiations with India-UK FTA are starting imminently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of his speech, the London-based entrepreneur and founding chair of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) highlighted the areas of focus for the FTA, which the CBI \u2013 as the industry representative body for over 190,000 UK businesses \u2013 will be involved with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just scratching the surface with a country like India. India is the fifth largest economy in the world, emerging global economic superpower, we should be doing way more than GBP 24 billion bilateral trade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat FTA I hope will be a huge benefit in enhancing bilateral trade and very comprehensive\u2026 as comprehensive as possible. Movement of people; reduction of duties and tariffs \u2013 the tariff on Scotch whisky is 150 per cent, that\u2019s got to be reduced drastically; academic collaborations and cross-border research is going to be huge between our countries; partnering on a Green industrial revolution. There is a vast array to really ramp up business and trade between our two countries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Bilimoria also pointed to the significant discrepancy in visitor visa fees paid by Indians, in comparison with Chinese visitors who pay far less, as an example of some immediate steps to be taken to ease the movement of people between the two countries.<\/p>\n
His speech comes as the UK International Trade Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, told the Centre for Policy Studies think tank earlier this week that she is all set to launch FTA talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween 2019 and 2050, more than half of global growth is expected to come from the Indo-Pacific. Within that, South Asia will grow particularly quickly. And India is projected to be the world\u2019s third largest economy by 2050,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia is, of course, one of our most significant export markets, and I look forward to launching our trade talks soon with them,\u201d she said.
\nIn May, India and the UK clinched an Enhanced Trade Partnership during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Boris Johnson, with the goal to double bilateral trade to GBP 50 billion by 2030.<\/p>\n
According to the Department for International Trade (DIT), preparations for the launch of negotiations for the UK-India FTA \u201cremain underway\u201d since the conclusion of bilateral working groups in October. Trevelyan and Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also held talks last month during the G20 trade ministers meeting in Sorrento, Italy, to discuss \u201cfinal preparations\u201d for the launch of UK-India FTA negotiations.<\/p>\n
While no date for the launch of negotiations has yet been finalised, Downing Street indicated that they are set to kick off before the end of this year.
\nThe UK has said it wants a deal that slashes barriers to doing business and trading with India. There had been talk of a so-called early harvest or interim trade deal ahead of a full-fledged FTA, but indications are that both sides might aim directly for an FTA by next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): Formal negotiations for an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) are set to begin imminently and will be as comprehensive as possible to cover all aspects of the bilateral relationship, the president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said on Wednesday. India-born Lord Karan Bilimoria was addressing the CBI\u2019s annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-177667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}