After 8-month gap, India and UK resume FTA negotiations

India and the UK on Monday resumed negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA) after an eight-month pause, with the two sides aiming for a threefold increase in bilateral merchandise trade through a "mutually beneficial and a forward-looking" deal by resolving tariff and non-tariff issues while protecting each other's "sensitivities", ministers of the two countries said.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

NEW DELHI:

In a precursor to formal resumption of FTA negotiations, which were left suspended after the 14th round of negotiations because of elections in the UK and a change in the government there, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and British business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds met on Monday.

"The strengthening of the trading relationship between our two countries has the potential to unlock opportunities for business and consumers across both our nations and build further on our already deep ties," the two countries said in a joint statement after the ministerial meeting in New Delhi.

Goyal said an FTA deal will give "huge opportunities" to businesses and people to grow in both countries, and that the deal would help to boost bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries from current $20 billion "to probably two or 3X" in the next 10 years.

While restarting trade talks, the two countries directed their negotiators "to work together to resolve the outstanding issues in the agreement to ensure a fair and equitable trade deal" for shared success.