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LONDON, Oct 13 (PTI) Intensive negotiations are underway to achieve much of the goal of ending negotiations on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Diwali, UK government sources said on Thursday.
Officials said the two countries continued to negotiate an “ambitious free trade agreement” that could boost the UK economy by more than £3bn by 2035.
“The UK and India have set a target to conclude most of their talks on Diwali (October 24) and intensive talks are ongoing,” the source said.
Officials familiar with the negotiations also sought to reframe the issue of mobility by distinguishing between temporary business visas and long-term immigration, saying business mobility differs from immigration in that it covers the temporary entry of talent to work in specific fields. The time period of the trading partner country.
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“Any commitment we seek on temporary entry is aimed at encouraging India’s best and brightest to work in the UK on a temporary basis,” the official source said.
This comes after UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman was very vocal about her concerns about what she called an “open border” approach with India as part of a free trade agreement, which many feared. The move, which could delay free trade agreement negotiations from the end-October schedule because of liquidity concerns, is at the heart of what India sees as a win-win trade deal. According to the UK government, any deal with India on visas and immigration would fall under the country’s broader points-based immigration system and would be subject to Cabinet approval.
While the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) declined to comment on “on-site negotiations”, it did not rule out the possibility that the Diwali deadline was being met, saying the deadline was “to focus and move forward”.
“The UK has a close, positive working relationship with India and a thriving trade partnership worth over £24bn in 2021. We continue to seek to improve our current trade relationship and this is where we are negotiating an ambitious reasons for a free trade agreement,” a DIT spokesman said.
“We remain clear that we will not sacrifice quality for speed and will only sign when we reach an agreement that serves the interests of both countries,” the spokesman said.
In recent days, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sparked intense speculation when he announced the FTA’s Diwali timetable during a visit to India in April. Since then, however, the UK has experienced a lot of political turmoil, with Johnson replaced by Leeds Truss and a new cabinet team in place.
The trade deal with India is expected to more than double the value of bilateral trade by 2030, in what is seen as a major victory for the new prime minister in turbulent weeks amid turmoil in financial markets.
Strategists on both sides agree that if the FTA’s Diwali deadline is still met, the outcome could be far less comprehensive than expected, leaving room for future negotiations in key areas.
UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badnock appeared to lay the groundwork for this last week, when she said a free trade deal with India did not mean “we can’t do more in the future”. On the UK side, some of the key demands revolved around the opening of India’s legal services sector and cutting high tariffs on Scotch whisky​​​. For India, talent mobility and digital data issues are some of the key factors.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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