Tag: FTA

Before the 12th round, the sides had concluded talks on 19 of the total 26 chapters in the FTA…reports Asian Lite News

Senior officials of India and the UK will start the 13th round of negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement from September 4, an official said on Thursday.

The two sides concluded the 12th round of negotiations on August 31.

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has recently stated that the negotiations between India and the UK for the proposed agreement are progressing and both countries are committed to concluding the talks as early as possible.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch was here recently to review the progress of talks. She also held bilateral meetings with Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

India will have to do “more things" to match the UK’s far more open economy as they negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA), UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch said.

(@ravidutta_ reports) https://t.co/UUTuY2dX2d

— Mint (@livemint) August 31, 2023

Before the 12th round, the sides had concluded talks on 19 of the total 26 chapters in the FTA. Investment is being negotiated as a separate agreement (bilateral investment treaty) between India and the UK.

The bilateral trade between countries increased to $20.36 billion in 2022-23 from $17.5 billion in 2021-22.

‘More opening up is required from India’

Meanwhile, Badenoch has said that India will have to do “more things” to match the UK’s far more open economy as they negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA).

Badenoch, who was in India for both a G20 trade and investment summit in Jaipur and FTA talks, said the deal will set a “precedence” due to its unique nature.“The UK has a relatively open economy compared to India. So of course, there will be more things that require movements on the Indian side.. if it was going to get full equivalence within the UK. I’m here to make sure that whatever deal we have, does not take anything away from the opportunities that are currently existing,” Badenoch said.

While both countries have refrained from announcing a deadline after missing an ambitious Diwali target date last year, the union commerce ministry earlier this month said officials are going to continue negotiating till the end of August which will be followed by stock-taking at a “higher level”.

Badenoch said India and the UK have closed most of the deal’s chapters.

“But as is with any kind of negotiating, the last bit is the toughest bit… We need to make sure that when the deal is done, it is something that is mutually beneficial to both India and to the UK,” Badenoch stated.

Both countries are set to take up contentious parts of the agreement such Intellectual property rights (IPR), rules of origin and investment protection in August.

Talks on IPR are crucial, as India is the world’s largest provider of generic drugs, accounting for a fifth of global supply, including to the UK’s National Health Service. Generics make up 70-80% of the domestic retail market. In contrast, the UK is a world leader in life science innovation and wants strong IPR protection. On the Indian demand to allow more skilled Indians to temporarily live and work in the UK, the British trade minister said: “For work, Indian visas are a third of the visas that the UK grants. Also a third of student visas go to India. And a third of visitor visas go to India.” “So what we’re not going to do is just create a sort of a blanket opener. What we’re doing is looking at what your requests for visas are: can we accommodate them? And what in exchange will we be getting?”

On negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty – another contentious area — Badenoch said the one negotiated in the 90s has now expired. But “people who started things under it are still covered” and the new BIT would be about “what happens to the new entrants or the new businesses who are coming in”.

“She (Sitharaman) gave me a little bit more context as to some of the issues that have occurred not just with the UK but what they’re trying to prevent…. actually the approach we take is we look at the problem that needs resolution, and then we work to solve that problem, rather than working to copy-and-paste exactly what we had before, which isn’t going to be possible,” she added.

On the dysfunctional World Trade Organization appellate body, Badenoch said that smaller countries are the ones which are most at risk from the absence of a proper dispute settlement mechanism. “That is one of the reasons why it is the number one agenda item for the (WTO) ministerial conference that will be taking place in the UAE in February.”

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Braverman in a recent interview expressed reservations over a relaxation through the trade pact. She claimed Indians were the ‘largest group of people who overstayed’…reports Asian Lite News

The United Kingdom is mulling easing working visa rules for professionals under its Free Trade Agreement with India, reported Economic Times.

As per the report, the UK government is willing to relax some visa rules for Indian professionals, however, any visa relaxations are most probably to be limited as immigration is a politically sensitive subject in the UK.

Till now UK has so far refused any concessions to its visa and immigration rules under the FTA with India.

The Indian administration has repeatedly sought increased access for its citizens, but following Brexit in 2016, restrictions and control were called over the number of people coming into the country. Also, immigration remains a hot-button topic ahead of the next general election.

Earlier in 2022, the discussion between India and UK hit a snag over easier access to thousands of skilled workers. With UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s policies on migration from India, the difficulties were even raised.

Braverman in a recent interview expressed reservations over a relaxation through the trade pact. She claimed Indians were the ‘largest group of people who overstayed’.

These comments, made last week, did not go well with India, as the latter said that both nations should ‘honor’ the ‘understanding’ about migration mobility.

Indian officials opined that the British government should share data on the number of Indian business visitors who have overstayed in the UK.

Recently, over the past few months, the United Kingdom has taken several steps to curb immigration into the country. Apart from this, it has also limited options for existing immigrants to remain in the country.

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India has made at least two visits to the UK, including by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal in the recent past to further negotiations in the FTA…reports Asian Lite News

India is aiming to close negotiations in the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) as early as September, when the next round of negotiations is scheduled to take place between the two countries during the trade and investment working group meeting on August 24 and 25.

“There is visible progress in negotiations of this crucial FTA. We are moving towards endgame. In G20 meetings, the UK minister and senior officials will be in India and high-level meetings will take place to resolve the issues. We are hoping to close the chapter then and there,” a senior government official said.

As of July 28, the countries had achieved a broad consensus on trade of goods especially on the prickly issues of whiskey and automobiles. As many as 19 chapters of the total 26 have also been closed.

Another round is underway at present from August 8 and will continue till August 25. The government may exceed it if needed, Nidhi Mani Tripathi, Chief Negotiator of the India-UK FTA said during a press briefing on August 14.

India-UK FTA | #India is hoping to resolve pending issues related to #FTA by the end of the month, especially during the meeting with key UK officials next week.@shreyanandi15 reports the details https://t.co/Lkx7eoigra

— Business Standard (@bsindia) August 14, 2023

India has made at least two visits to the UK, including by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal in the recent past to further negotiations in the FTA.

“These were the longest visits we have ever made to meet UK counterparts. The last round of negotiation was very intense and we were able to close many issues – have closed 19 chapters out of 26. Now there are only a few issues left,” Barthwal told the media during a trade press briefing on August 14.

Both countries are yet to iron out their differences on intellectual property rights, rules of origin (RO) as well as the investment treaty, the aforementioned source further added.

Issues that continue to remain pending include those pertaining to intellectual property rights, rules of origin (RO) as well as the investment treaty.

India’s merchandise exports to the UK totalled $10 billion during April 2022 to February 2023 period, accounting for 2.5 percent of the country’s total exports. Merchandise imports from the UK stood at $8 billion during this period, with a share of 1.3 percent of all imports, data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed. The UK was India’s 15th top trade partner during this period.

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The ‘rules of origin’ provision prescribes minimal processing that should happen in an FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be called originating goods in that country…reports Asian Lite News

As India and the UK are close to concluding negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA), chief negotiators of both countries will hold the 12th round of talks from August 7 here, an official said.

Both sides are looking at concluding the talks before the end of the year.

The main issues which could come up for discussions in this round include investment treaty, reduction of duties on auto and whiskey and matters pertaining to services, the official said.

The 11th round of talks was concluded last month. For that round, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal visited London and took stock of the negotiations.

Out of the total 26 chapters in the FTA, 19 have been closed. Investment is being negotiated as a separate agreement (bilateral investment treaty) between India and the UK and it would be concluded simultaneously with the free trade agreement.

In the rules of origin chapters, product specific rules are being negotiated which include value-addition norms for each product category, change in chapter heading, and certification.

The ‘rules of origin’ provision prescribes minimal processing that should happen in an FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be called originating goods in that country.

Under this provision, a country that has inked an FTA with India cannot dump goods from some third country in the Indian market by just putting a label on it. It has to undertake a prescribed value addition in that product to export to India. Rules of origin norms help contain dumping of goods.

The Indian industry is demanding greater access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT, and healthcare in the UK market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duties.

India's Proposed FTA With The UK Has Raised Concerns Among Domestic Whiskey Producers

Watch: https://t.co/IP0WkLxgOi | #India #FTA #Scotch #Alcohol #UnitedKingdom #Whiskey #Import pic.twitter.com/ZJAbPLaslk

— Business Today (@business_today) August 1, 2023

On the other hand, the UK is seeking a significant cut in import duties on goods such as scotch whiskey, automobiles, lamb meat, and certain confectionary items.

Britain is also looking for more opportunities for UK services into Indian markets in segments such as telecommunications, legal and financial services like banking.

The bilateral trade between the countries increased to USD 20.36 billion in 2022-23 from USD 17.5 billion in 2021-22.

India’s main exports to the UK are ready-made garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, petroleum and petrochemical products, transport equipment, spices, machinery and instruments, pharmaceuticals and marine products.

Main imports include precious and semi-precious stones, ores and metal scraps, engineering goods, professional instruments other than electronics, chemicals and machinery.

In the services sector, the UK is the largest market in Europe for Indian IT services. In the field of investment, the UK is one of the top investors in India. In 2022-23, India received USD 1.74 billion in foreign direct investment from the UK as against USD 1 billion in 2021-22.

During April 2000 and March 2023, investments stood at USD 33.9 billion. Under such pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them, besides easing norms to promote trade in services and investments.

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