Boris Johnson hails India-U.K. FTA as ‘biggest of them all’

U.K. PM reiterates Diwali deadline for draft free trade agreement with India

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday reiterated the Diwali timeline for a draft India-United Kingdom free trade agreement (FTA), declaring that the proposed trade deal with New Delhi would be the biggest yet in the post-Brexit context.

In a statement to mark the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Monday, Mr. Johnson plugged for the “Commonwealth advantage” which added immense value to all 54-member countries of the organisation.

Explained | The FTA talks between India and the United Kingdom

He pointed out how India, as the largest member of the grouping, will be at the same table as the smallest for CHOGM, indicating the diverse strengths of the Commonwealth.

“The Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu (population of 11,000) will be at the same table as India (population 1.3 billion). Yet for all the differences between us, we are joined by an invisible thread of shared values, history and institutions and of course the English language,” Mr. Johnson writes in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“All of this creates a unique opportunity for Britain whereby the Commonwealth – and only the Commonwealth – combines vast and rapidly growing markets with a real and quantified trading advantage. That is why we are mobilising the U.K.’s regained sovereignty to sign free trade or economic partnership agreements with as many Commonwealth countries as possible. So far we’ve done 33, including Australia and New Zealand, and we’re aiming for India, the biggest of them all, by Diwali in October,” he said.

It was during his visit to India in April that Mr. Johnson and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the negotiating teams on both sides must work towards a Diwali timeline for the completion of a draft free trade agreement.