INDIA and Britain could sign a free trade agreement (FTA) this year as both countries have reached consensus on the broad contours of the proposed deal, a senior official of the Indian Commerce Ministry was quoted as saying in media reports.
“We want to finalise the deal at the earliest,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters. He said that on almost all contentious issues, negotiations were completed, and the deal could be signed “much before” the end of the year.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Department for Business and Trade said, “While we’ve made good progress in closing chapters, we’re now focused on the high ambition areas including goods, services, and investment.”
Fair and balanced
“We are clear that we will only sign when we have a deal that is fair, balanced, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy.”
A PTI report quoting a Government official said out of the total 26 chapters in the FTA, 19 have been closed. “Remaining issues include IPRs, rules of origin and investment treaty,” the official added.
In the rules of origin chapters, both countries are talking about product specific rules, value addition, change in chapter heading, and certification. The ‘rules of origin’ provision prescribes minimal processing that should happen in an FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be called originating goods in that country.
Eleventh round ends
India and the UK concluded the eleventh round of FTA talks on July 18, and the next round of negotiations is due to take place in the coming month. As with previous rounds, the eleventh round was conducted in a hybrid fashion – a number of Indian officials travelled to London for negotiations and others attended virtually.
During July 10-11, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited the UK where he met Kemi Badenoch MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and Nigel Huddleston MP, the Minister of State for International Trade.
Technical discussions
Commerce Secretary Barthwal also visited the UK during the round. He met with senior UK trade officials and took stock of the progress made in the negotiations. Technical discussions were held across nine policy areas in over 42 separate sessions.
For India, an FTA with the UK would be its first with a developed country after it signed an interim trade pact with Australia last year. For Britain, it is part of a quest for diversified global trade relationships after its 2020 exit from the European Union.
