Trade talks with UK in final stages, no new round | Business News
Within a month of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visiting the UK, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to meet his counterpart in London next month, as trade talks are progressing “well”, a senior government official said on Saturday.
“The negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK are progressing towards the final stages. A new full round of negotiations is unlikely, as discussions are moving at a faster pace. As many as 14 rounds have taken place,” the official said.
This comes as radical changes in US trade policy are rapidly resetting the global trading order, with countries seeking to secure market access in as many nations as possible. For India, negotiations with the UK and the European Union — stuck for decades — have gained momentum.
While negotiations with the US are expected to conclude before the end of the year, New Delhi and Brussels have also agreed to sign a trade deal within the year. However, talks with developed countries have yet to conclude due to stringent labour and environmental standards sought by Western nations.
A government official said that, in a bid to secure a deal, India is considering an early harvest agreement with various trade partners that would include “core trade issues” such as market access, leaving labour and environmental matters for subsequent discussions.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds announced the resumption of negotiations for the proposed FTA between the two countries in February this year. The negotiations resumed after a gap of over eight months. The talks were launched in January 2022.
The two countries are actively negotiating on three fronts — the FTA, a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), and a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The BIT talks are being led by the Finance Ministry and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the UK earlier this month.
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Amid an anticipated shift in global trade and investment away from China following the ongoing US–China trade tensions, India, during the Union Budget announcement, signalled stronger protections for foreign investors. The government announced a revamp of the conservative 2016 model Bilateral Investment Treaty, which had favoured the state over investors in dispute resolution.
This overhaul was mentioned in the Union Budget after several Western trade partners raised concerns over burdensome provisions during ongoing treaty negotiations.
India is currently in talks with both the UK and the European Union for an investment treaty and is also expected to negotiate a BIT with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) region, which has committed to investing $100 billion in India over a 15-year period.
