The 11th round of negotiations for a UK-India free trade agreement (FTA) concluded on a positive note, with detailed draft treaty discussions spanning several policy areas, as stated in a joint statement issued recently.
The UK's Department for Business and Trade (DBT) announced that Round 12 of the negotiations is anticipated to take place in the upcoming months. The statement also highlighted significant visits from India during the 11th round of talks, which commenced earlier in the month and concluded on July 18.
The joint statement reads: “On 10-11 July, the Honourable Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Piyush Goyal, visited the UK as part of the eleventh round of the UK-India FTA negotiations. He met with Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and Nigel Huddleston MP, the Minister of State for International Trade, where they discussed ways to make progress on the FTA negotiations and wider trade and investment opportunities for the UK and India.
“Shri Sunil Barthwal, Commerce Secretary, Government of India, also visited the UK during the round. He met with senior UK trade officials and took stock of the progress made in the eleventh round of negotiations. Technical discussions were held across 9 policy areas over 42 separate sessions. They included detailed draft treaty text discussions in these policy areas.”
India and the UK have moved significantly closer to finalizing a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) after successfully concluding the eleventh round of negotiations.
Piyush Goyal’s was followed by India's Commerce Secretary, Sunil Barthwal. These high-level visits are viewed as positive indicators of the substantial headway made in both political and substantive aspects of the discussions.
