According to the commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, the next round of negotiations for the planned free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK would take place from March 20–24. According to Barthwal, 13 chapters were closed as the talks moved further.
After the eight rounds of negotiations in March, it was possible to predict how many more there would be and how much longer it would take to reach an agreement.
With a goal of wrapping up talks by Diwali (October 24), India and the UK began FTA negotiations in January of last year. However, the deadline was missed due to political changes in the UK.
The agreement is divided into 26 chapters, which include investments, commodities, services, and intellectual property rights.
The UK is requesting duty exemptions for products like autos and Scotch whisky.
Nidhi Mani Tripathi, the department of commerce’s joint secretary, stated that the commerce secretary and the EU’s director general for trade will meet in August to assess the status of the negotiations.On January 24, they last had a meeting. The fourth round of negotiations is slated to take place from March 13–17. During the fourth round of negotiations, both parties have agreed to discuss and iron out the specifics of the exchange of offers for products and services.
The secretary said that work is ongoing on the new foreign trade policy and that it will be unveiled in April.He stated that the ministry is holding discussions on reducing non-essential imports. He stated that the ministry is having discussions with several departments to discuss reducing non-essential imports.
He continued, “We are also exchanging data with them.” The current Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) was extended by the government through March 31, 2023. FTP offers recommendations for boosting exports to fuel economic expansion and generate jobs.
According to the commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, the next round of negotiations for the planned free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK would take place from March 20–24. According to Barthwal, 13 chapters were closed as the talks moved further.After the eighth round of negotiations in March, it was possible to estimate how many more rounds and how much longer the negotiations would last.
