New Delhi: England on Friday expressed hope that it would be able to immediately complete negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India, a step aimed at improving trade and investment relations between the two countries.
“I can confidently predict that we will complete the Indian-UK FTA before we see the Indian-EU FTA (EU) finish,” said British Investment Minister Gerry Grimstone.
Speaking at the Annual Body Cii-English Conference, he said there had been productive discussions on how the trade pact could act as a means of connecting both economies and to double bilateral trade over the next decade.
India and the United Kingdom aim to begin negotiations for Bilateral FTA proposed in 1.
Recently, trade and Minister of Industry Piyush Goyah said the two countries moved towards the initial harvest trade agreement, with a comprehensive FTA as the next step.
In FTA, two or more trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs in the maximum number of goods traded between them besides liberalization norms to promote trade and investment trade.
In a temporary trade pact, customs duty is removed on the number of limited items.
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached USD 13.11 billion in 2020-21 by opposing USD 15.45 billion in 2019-20.
The trade balance supports India, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Commerce.
Grimstone also said that “our focus is to increase investment, exports, deal with market access problems, remove trade barriers that inhibit growth and release the potential for economic growth”.
India is trying to create a strong FTA with England, Kumar Gaitri Issar, Indian high commissioner to England, said.
India is the second largest FDI contributor in the UK and 850 Indian companies contribute to the GBP 50 billion net income.