Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to visit the UK on July 10-11 to assessment progress on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), an official assertion stated on Sunday. “The Minister’s visit will not only be focused on the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the UK but he will also be meeting with ministers from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member countries to discuss the progress of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with EFTA,” the commerce ministry stated.
Visit dedicated to increasing their financial ties
The visit comes at an important juncture, as each India and the UK are dedicated to increasing their financial ties and exploring avenues for enhanced bilateral commerce. “With the FTA negotiations gaining momentum, the visit aims to further propel the discussions and pave the way for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial agreement that would drive economic growth and strengthen ties between the two nations,” it stated.
During the visit, the Minister will have interaction in high-level conferences along with his UK counterparts, together with the Secretary of State for International Trade, in addition to representatives from varied sectors and industries. “These meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss the key priorities and objectives of the FTA negotiations, with a focus on addressing trade barriers, promoting investments, and fostering greater cooperation in areas such as technology, innovation, and intellectual property rights,” it stated.
Furthermore, the Minister can even meet with ministers and officers from the EFTA member nations, (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), to assess the progress made within the ongoing negotiations of the TEPA with EFTA. The TEPA goals to improve commerce and financial cooperation between India and the EFTA member nations, fostering an atmosphere conducive to elevated investments, decreased commerce boundaries, and higher market entry.
The visit of the Minister underscores the dedication of the Indian authorities to actively have interaction with its worldwide companions and discover alternatives for financial progress and growth. It displays the willpower to forge robust and mutually helpful commerce relationships that won’t solely profit the economies of each India and the UK but in addition contribute to the general prosperity and welfare of their respective residents.
Trade settlement between India and the UK
Negotiations for a commerce settlement between India and the UK have been launched on January 13, 2021. As many as ten rounds of talks have been accomplished until June this 12 months and either side are aiming to conclude the negotiations on the earliest.
The negotiations between the 2 nations for the settlement cowl as many as 26 coverage areas/ chapters. Investment is being negotiated as a separate settlement (bilateral funding treaty) between India and the UK and it might be concluded concurrently with the free commerce settlement.
The bilateral commerce between the nations has elevated to USD 20.36 billion in 2022-23, as in contrast to USD 17.5 billion in 2021-22. India’s fundamental exports to the UK are ready-made clothes and textiles, gems and jewelry, engineering items, petroleum and petrochemical merchandise, transport tools, spices, equipment and devices, prescription drugs and marine merchandise.
The fundamental imports embrace valuable and semi-precious stones, ores and metallic scraps, engineering items, skilled devices aside from electronics, chemical compounds and equipment.
In the providers sector, the UK is the most important market in Europe for Indian IT providers. In the sphere of funding, the UK is among the prime buyers in India. In 2022-23, India acquired USD 1.74 billion in overseas direct funding from Britain as towards USD one billion in 2021-22. During April 2000 and March 2023, the investments stood at USD 33.9 billion.
On April 26 right here, India and EFTA mentioned methods to resume negotiations for the settlement. Under such pacts, two buying and selling companions considerably scale back or remove customs duties on the utmost variety of items traded between them, apart from easing norms to promote commerce in providers and investments. EFTA nations will not be a part of the European Union (EU).
EFTA is an inter-governmental organisation for the promotion and intensification of free commerce. It was based instead for states that didn’t want to be a part of the European Community.
India’s exports to EFTA nations throughout April-February 2022-23 stood at USD 1.67 billion as towards USD 1.74 billion in 2021-22. Imports aggregated at USD 15 billion throughout the 11-month interval as in contrast to USD 25.5 billion in 2021-22. The commerce hole is in favour of the EFTA group.
(With PTI inputs)
