Tag: Free Trade Agreement

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UK yet to set up team to resume FTA talks with India

The FTA talks have yet to resume because the UK has not yet appointed its negotiating team…reports Asian Lite News

The UK-India free trade agreement (FTA) appears to be on hold for now. The newly elected United Kingdom (UK) government is yet to form a team to negotiate the 14th round of FTA talks with India. However, this process is likely to be finalised shortly.

The UK-India FTA, aimed at providing Britain with access to Indian markets while opening the British market to Indian businesses, was initiated in January 2024. There were hopes of completing the agreement before both countries faced general elections. So far, 13 rounds of talks have been completed by 2023, but the 14th round was halted, largely due to election schedules.

The FTA talks have yet to resume because the UK has not yet appointed its negotiating team. Negotiations were initially set to continue in July, following elections in both nations, but delays have persisted.

In the UK, the Labour Party won, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. During his first visit to India in July, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy emphasised the importance of securing the FTA with India.

The trade agreement was featured in the manifestos of both major UK political parties. While many aspects of the deal have been settled, some key issues remain unresolved. The Indian delegation last visited the UK in April to address some of these matters.

A major point of contention has been localisation rules for British car manufacturers seeking benefits. Another area still under discussion is the import of whiskey from the UK. India-UK trade has declined over the years

The UK’s share of India’s trade has seen a decline over the last decade. In the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), the two countries traded goods worth $21.3 billion, representing 1.9 per cent of India’s overall trade, down from 2.1 per cent in FY14.

While India’s total trade grew at an annualised rate of 3.8 per cent between FY14 and FY24, trade with the UK lagged, growing at only 3 per cent annually.

In addition to the FTA, the two countries are collaborating on research. During his visit to India, Lammy announced the Technology and Security Initiative, which aims to promote cooperation on critical minerals, advanced materials, health tech, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. This initiative is a part of the UK-India 2030 roadmap, signed by both nations in 2021.

UK and India launch major Infrastructure Financing Bridge

The United Kingdom and India have officially launched the United Kingdom-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB), a new initiative designed to strengthen their financial and professional services collaboration, an official press release by the City of London stated.

This agreement, signed between the City of London Corporation and NITI Aayog, aims to channel sustainable infrastructure investments into India, leveraging the UK’s expertise in managing and structuring large-scale projects.

A key component of the UKIIFB is the newly announced steering committee, which includes representatives from various prestigious organizations such as HM Treasury, Aon, Arup, Mott MacDonald, Clifford Chance, and Sequoia Investment Management Company.

This committee will oversee the implementation of the initiative, focusing on projects such as national highways, regional rapid transport systems, and renewable energy ventures.

The steering committee will work on several objectives, including accelerating the mobilization of international private-sector investment into Indian infrastructure, providing policy recommendations to address investment barriers, and developing best practices for sustainable infrastructure projects.

Chris Hayward, Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “I am delighted to sign the UK India Infrastructure Financing Bridge welcoming a new chapter in the extensive business relationship between our two nations. The UK’s expertise in professional services, finance, and scaling major projects makes it a natural partner to meet India’s growing infrastructure needs, showcasing the City of London’s position as a global city.”

BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, highlighted the significance of the UKIIFB, saying, “The UK India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB), jointly announced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister of India and the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK, represents a significant collaborative effort spearheaded jointly by NITI Aayog and the City of London.”

“This initiative underscores the commitment of both nations to work together in unlocking major infrastructure investment opportunities in India. This is a game-changer that not only accelerates India’s economic ascent but also strengthens its position on the global stage. It is not limited to connecting the two nations; it connects India to its aspirations of becoming a global powerhouse,” he continued.

Vikram Doraiswamy, the High Commissioner of India to the UK, remarked, “The team at the High Commission are delighted by the establishment of this financing bridge today. Announced as an objective at the last India – UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in September 2023, this structure is the culmination of over a year of shared effort. The UKIIFB is a striking testament to the complementarity of our bilateral economic relationship.”

Industry experts also weighed in on the partnership. Simon Harris, Managing Director for International Development Services at Mott MacDonald, noted, “Investment in climate-resilient infrastructure will play a key role in supporting India’s rapid economic and social development. The United Kingdom-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB) is an excellent opportunity for investors to collaborate with India’s project shapers to accelerate investable and sustainable infrastructure development.”

Similarly, Sowmya Parthasarathy of Arup added, “Infrastructure is the foundation for India’s economic growth. Today’s announcement of the United Kingdom-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB) comes at a pivotal moment.”

Mark Courtneidge of Aon UK and Anurag Gupta of Sequoia Investment Management Company also expressed their support, emphasizing the potential for the UKIIFB to facilitate significant infrastructure advancements in India.

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Modi, Sunak Discuss Progress in India-UK FTA

New Delhi, Sept 9 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi shares a light moment with United Kingdom PM Rishi Sunak during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Photo)

Rishi Sunak also congratulated Narendra Modi on Team India’s strong performance in the ongoing Cricket World Cup.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak discussed the progress on the Free Trade Agreement during their telephonic conversation on Friday.

Sunak also congratulated PM Modi on Team India’s strong performance in the ongoing Cricket World Cup.

“Turning to the friendship between the UK and India, the leaders discussed recent progress on Free Trade Agreement negotiations. They agreed on the importance of securing an ambitious deal that benefitted both sides,” the UK government said in a statement.

India and UK are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement, talks for which had begun in 2022. The 12th round of negotiations for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) took place from August 8-31 this year.

The UK PM affirmed hope of a good performance from the English side during the Test series in India in January next year.

“The leaders discussed the ongoing Cricket World Cup being held in India. The Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Modi on the strong performance of the India team and said he hoped England would have more luck during their test series in India in January,” the statement added.

Notably, India is having a strong run in the ongoing Cricket World Cup and has won all seven matches it has played so far. The defending champions, England on the other hand, have had poor show, winning only one game out of the six they have played.

In the India versus England game at Lucknow, the Men in Blue registered a huge 100-run victory, after India’s pace attack rattled the English batting while defending a below-par total.

PM Modi and PM Sunak also discussed the conflict situation in the Middle East amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The two leaders condemned Hamas’s attacks on Israel, and reiterated that Hamas “did not represent” the Palestinian people.

They reflected on the need to deescalate tensions in the wider region. PM Sunak also underscored the importance of protecting innocent civilians in Gaza and ensuring aid was able to flow into the country, the statement added. (ANI)

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‘India-EU FTA Advancing, Works Ahead’

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and discussed bilateral and financial issues of mutual interest on Saturday.

In a meeting that was held in New Delhi, both the leaders exchanged views on ongoing consultations for India-EU Investment Protection Agreement IPA and India-EU Free Trade Agreement FTA, informed the Ministry of Finance.

EU Trade Commissioner also co-chaired the EU-India High-Level Dialogue on Trade and Investment with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Saturday.

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

Prior to the meeting with the Union Finance minister, In a press conference, the EU Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis acknowledged that while progress has been made in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) discussions, there are still substantial challenges to address.

He said, “The discussions on the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union (EU) have made “progress but a lot of work is still ahead of us”, said on Saturday, adding that the ties between the two sides have a lot of untapped potential”.

At a press conference held in India, Dombrovskis emphasized the untapped potential in the relationship between India and the EU, stating, “India and the EU are important partners. We share fundamental values and interests.” He also highlighted that the EU is India’s second-largest partner.

Dombrovskis noted that the FTA negotiations come at a time of conflicting geopolitical situations, emphasizing the increasing importance of trust and credibility in international relations.

Providing an update on the FTA talks, Dombrovskis, who also serves as the EU Commissioner for Trade, stated that both sides have engaged in intensive discussions.

He highlighted the potential benefits of an FTA, such as providing preferred access for India to the EU market, which is the largest single market globally.

Dombrovskis arrived in India earlier in the week and participated in the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting in Jaipur.

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

FTA aims to eliminate trade barriers between participating countries, facilitating smoother import and export processes and fostering stronger trade relations.

Talks initially began in 2007 but were frozen in 2013. The decision to resume negotiations in 2021 reflects the shared commitment to deepen economic ties and promote free and hassle-free trade between the two major partners.

The negotiations encompass a wide range of areas, including sustainability, labour standards, and environmental considerations, to ensure that trade benefits both parties without adverse impacts on the environment or labour rights. (ANI)

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India, Australia eye $100bn bilateral trade

Trade ministers of India and Australia are committed to speed up the negotiations.

During the meeting of joint ministerial commission between Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Australian counterpart Don Farrell on Saturday, both India and Australia have committed to conclude the negotiations for expanding the scope of existing free trade agreement by the end of 2023. Both countries also decided to aim to push bilateral trade to USD 100 billion.

Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell, who is accompanying Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on an official visit here in New Delhi, said that the two countries “can achieve” this target. Last year, on December 29, India and Australia implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) and are now negotiating to expand its scope for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA).

“ECTA was the first stage of our economic engagement. We are now entering into phase-2 of our discussions where we are looking at much wider ambit of subjects and taking this into a CECA,” Goyal told reporters during a joint press conference here.

Both the ministers have expressed “unhappiness” towards the trade negotiators and said they “will be much more ambitious and aim for a USD 100-billion trade between the two economies”, he said.

Farrell said that the two countries “can achieve” this target.

On the deadline to conclude the CECA negotiations, Goyal said that though anything done with a deadline is always “dangerous” as “you may land up making mistakes”, but “we” must do things fast.

Both the trade ministers, he said, are committed to speed up the negotiations.

Both the prime ministers have “collectively tasked us to work towards closing the CECA negotiations within this calender year. We would love to do that. We would work to engage in a same spirit as ECTA and hope for quick outcomes without compromising on its quality,” Goyal added.

He also said that “we are very very dissatisfied” with the USD 30-billion bilateral trade and the officials of India and Australia have kept a target of USD 45-50 billion in the next five years.

Goyal said huge opportunities are there to increase cooperation in areas like education, technology, audio-video services and sports.

While Australia has some “very” fine technologies, best of education institutes and sports, India can offer in terms of its talent pool, manufacturing base and startup ecosystem, he said.

On increasing agri trade with Australia, the Indian commerce minister said that there are several areas of mutual interest, which are under consideration of agriculture ministries of both sides to resolve sanitary and phyto-sanitary (related with plans and animals) problems.

After the first India-Australia summit talks here on March 10 on a range of key issues, Albanese has said that both countries are looking at firming up the ambitious CECA by 2023 while a joint statement mentioned that the two prime ministers tasked the concerned officials to expedite the conclusion of a Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement (MMPA) within the next three months.

Goyal appreciated Australia for taking care of Indian sensitivities in the agri and dairy sectors where small and marginal farmers are involved.

“We are looking at win-win opportunities in many areas which will open up a lot of potential like in space technology, Australian education systems and critical minerals, energy storage system that are developed in Australia and sports…Our focus has been leveraging on each other’s comparative competitive advantages to add to trade,” he added.

Farrell said that Australia has all the critical minerals to build batteries for electric vehicles.

He also said that in the first month of the ECTA, Australia has shipped goods worth USD 2.5 billion to India.

Farrell added that Australian wine industry can come to India and provide support to the sector here in terms of sharing knowledge and quality.

“I do hope that in the months to come we will be able to send our teams from India from the wine sector and will be able to invite teams from Australia coming in forging alliances with mutual cooperation,” Goyal said.

Goyal added that India can learn different water sports from Australia as it has a long coastline.

On whether Australia is looking to include gender and sustainability issues in the CECA, Farrell said that the country is looking at these issues as part of the CECA.

Goyal said that India is open to negotiations and look to engage with the rest of the world from a position of strength and learn from the best practices. (ANI)

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India, GCC agree to pursue Free Trade Agreement

In the presser, Goyal said the GCC is India’s largest trade partner. The bilateral merchandise trade in the year 2021-2022 is valued at USD 154 billion…reports Asian Lite News

India and Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to pursue the Free Trade Agreement, saying that they wanted to conclude it at the earliest, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said. Addressing a joint press conference, the Union minister said, “We’ve agreed to pursue the Free Trade Agreement between India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and conclude it at the earliest. GCC is already India’s largest trading partner. GCC countries contribute almost 35 per cent of India’s oil imports and 70 per cent of our gas imports.”

This joint press conference took place to mark the launch of the resumption of India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Negotiations.

In the presser, Goyal said the GCC is India’s largest trade partner. The bilateral merchandise trade in the year 2021-2022 is valued at USD 154 billion.

Bilateral trade in services between India and GCC stood at around USD 14 billion. India and the GCC have complimentary business and economic ecosystems. While India played an important role in food security and contribute to the healthcare of GCC, the GCC is a reliable partner in India’s energy security.

Goyal said the FTA between India and GCC countries will be a comprehensive economic partnership. “What exactly can be expected needs to be discussed bilaterally. For example, UAE is looking to invest around USD 100 billion in India, Crown prince of Saudi Arabia was here in India. He indicated that he is also looking for an investment at a very large level in India. I am quite confident that the 2 sides will set new benchmarks together,” he added.

Nayef Falah M Al-Hajraf, secretary general of GCC said, “We are keen to pursue FTA negotiations. The world has been hit hard by the pandemic and the economic outlook looks uncertain. It is time to capitalise on the already existing strong relationship between the GCC and India.”

“We’ve instructed our respective negotiation teams to finalise all documents for the FTA. The FTA is a means to capitalise on what’s already existing between India and GCC,” he added.

Hajraf said, “The FTA will cater to our economy after Covid-19. Businesses have entered into a new challenging era and FTA will boost trade and investment, food and energy security and also help us address climate change and other concerns. The relations between GCC countries and India are deep-rooted.”

The GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain.

The earlier two rounds of FTA negotiations between India and the GCC was held in 2006 and 2008.

The third round did not happen as GCC deferred its negotiations with all countries and economic groups. (ANI)

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India, EU relaunch FTA talks in Brussels

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal meets with Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission executive vice-president and Trade Commissioner.

India and the European Union (EU) have re-launched negotiations for free trade agreement (FTA) after a 9-year lull, reports Asian Lite News

Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission executive vice-president and Trade Commissioner has said that the negotiation between India and the EU on the free trade agreement will take place from June 27 till July 1 in New Delhi.

“Pleased that we re-started talks on Free Trade Agreement today (with India). The next round of negotiations will take place from June 27 till July 1 in New Delhi. We’re pursuing an ambitious timeline and we aim to conclude talks by end of 2023,” the EU trade commissioner said while addressing the media in Brussels on Friday.

“These far-reaching negotiations open a new and exciting chapter in EU-India relations. Together we aim not only to boost economic growth and job creation but also promote our shared values, work to protect the climate and secure our supply chains,” he said further.

India and the European Union (EU) have re-launched negotiations for free trade agreement (FTA) after a 9-year lull.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in Brussels has expressed hope for further engagement in the IT sector.

“India’s making a rapid strike in the digital world. We would further like to engage with the innovation in the IT sector. In the last few years, we worked on gender equality, sustainable development, clean energy, and hydrogen mission,” Goyal said on Friday.

He also said that Europe brings cutting-edge technology, and big data to the table while India contributes to labour-intensive sectors.

“EU and India have worked together to reinstate globalisation. India wishes to engage with the world,” the Union Minister said further.

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated ‘Mango Mania’ in Brussels.

Piyush Goyal also inaugurated a “Mango Festival” organized in Brussels to create awareness among the Europeans and create a market for Indian mangoes in Europe.

India is a major exporter of mangoes to the world, but mostly the mangoes are going to Middle-East countries rather than coming to Europe. (ANI)