A UK media article states that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is eager to finalize a free trade agreement (FTA) with India by Easter, which is at the end of March 2024.
India and the United Kingdom initiated free trade agreement (FTA) talks in January of last year with the goal of greatly improving their GBP 36 billion business relationship. Following the conclusion of the thirteenth round of negotiations on December 15, additional negotiations, which are anticipated to be the final, are scheduled to commence early in the new year.
“Prime Minister Mr Sunak and India’s premier Narendra Modi are said to be keen to get the deal wrapped up by April,” reads a story in the 'Daily Express' newspaper, which was updated on Saturday.
"The Indian general elections are scheduled to start on April 1, and it is hoped that a deal can be signed and sealed before then," it states. According to a UK-based source close to the trade discussions, the newspaper reported that although significant progress has been achieved, certain "hardest" issues are still outstanding.
Even though we've come a long way, the remaining tasks are the most challenging. The insider informed the publication that negotiators are present on a weekly basis to talk over the details, and that there is a deadline for their elections. "Both Rishi Sunak and Modi are still very interested, so now we just need to see if we can succeed," the person exclaimed.
A free trade agreement (FTA) is something the United Kingdom is hoping will allow it to trade Scotch whisky, automobiles, services, and investment opportunities with India. Simultaneously, India will aim for improved access to its produced goods and services as well as an agreement over work visas.
There is a sense of pressing need to finalize a trade agreement before the leaders of both India and the UK enter campaign mode in 2024, the year of their respective general elections.
"The thirteenth round of negotiations for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement took place from 18 September to 15 December," wrote the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in a joint outcome statement that was published last week. Sessions was place virtually as well as in-person in Delhi and London during the round.
Complex concerns, including as commodities, services, and investment, were the focus of these negotiations, as they had been in round 12. The United Kingdom and India will keep working towards their goal of a thorough and ambitious free trade agreement. The announcement said that January 2024 will be the date of the fourteenth round of discussions.
Based on the current model, the fourteenth round is anticipated to be hosted by London, with officials engaging in a hybrid format of virtual and in-person discussions. "We have achieved significant advancements... I believe that both parties are fully cognizant of the significance of the FTA and will exert every effort to achieve it. Consequently, we need to be flexible," External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told reporters following his meetings with Sunak and other senior Cabinet members during his recent visit to the UK.
There was talk that Sunak, a cricket fanatic, might use the England vs. India World Cup match in Lucknow on October 29—the day the much-anticipated FTA could be signed off—to continue his cricket diplomacy after his first visit to India as British prime minister for the G20 Summit in September.
Nonetheless, attention was reported to have been diverted due to the global Israel-Hamas conflict and the internal political upheaval of a Tory party Cabinet replacement. "We are quite near... When asked about timeframes again, UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch responded, "We will finish when we finish." This was in response to a committee in the House of Commons.
The Sunak-led government has formally maintained the stance of "it's the deal, not the date" in order to avoid establishing concrete deadlines, ever since the India-UK FTA failed to materialize by former prime minister Boris Johnson's Diwali 2022 deadline.
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