British Indian Labor MP Jeevan Sandher asked Foreign Secretary David Lammy about steps to be taken to achieve “a good trade deal between Britain and India”.
The UK government told Parliament on Tuesday that free trade agreement (FTA) talks with India have been restarted.
The UK government told Parliament on Tuesday that free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India have been resumed to deliver on their shared ambition to take the bilateral relationship to “even greater heights”.
During a debate on UK economic development in the House of Commons, British Indian Labor MP Jeevan Sandher asked Foreign Secretary David Lammy about steps to be taken to achieve a “good UK-India trade deal”.
Describing 2025 as an “exciting year” for the UK’s trade relationship with India, the co-chairman of the India All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) called for “green technology to help stop and reduce the warming of our planet”. Exchange” flagged. Areas of focus.
“We are two nations with intertwined histories and shared democratic ideals, and we face the dangers of a dangerous world and a warming planet,” said Sindar, a first-time member of parliament from Loughborough in England’s East Midlands.
In response, Lemmy pointed to his visit to India within weeks of the Labor government being elected in July last year and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosting a roundtable with Indian business leaders at 10 Downing Street last month. .
“We have relaunched the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) – we have said it is a destination, not a limit to our ambitions – and it was important that a delegation of Indian businessmen met the Finance Minister, myself and the Prime Minister. met with [Keir Starmer] Just a few weeks before Christmas,” Lemmy said.
The British Foreign Secretary reiterated his Indian connection with “a great-grandmother on my mother’s side, who was from Calcutta” and revealed that he intended to invite his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, to the UK. have the coming spring months.
“The Prime Ministers of the UK and India have committed to an ambitious renewal of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. They announced that UK-India trade talks will resume, furthering our commitment to take UK-India relations to new heights. will deliver on joint ambitions, and India is one of a handful of countries that will determine whether we meet the global warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius,” the UK’s senior cabinet The minister said, referring to the meeting between Starmer and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the last G20 summit in Brazil in November.
According to official figures from the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT), total trade in goods and services between the UK and India in the four quarters to the end of 2024 was GBP 42 billion.
This is expected to be significantly increased with the FTA, for which negotiations began in January 2022 and before the fourteenth round of general elections in the two countries was suspended in 2024. FTA negotiations are expected to resume later this month.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed. PTI)
- Location:
London, United Kingdom (UK)