India-U.K. FTA could be ready by Diwali, says Piyush Goyal
The Hindu
The Commerce and Industry Minister says there won’t be the need for an interim early harvest agreement.
The way things are progressing between the two negotiating teams, a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom could be ready by Diwali without the need for an interim early harvest agreement, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal during a visit to the U.K.
The Minister arrived in London from the World Economic Forum in Davos to stock-take and interact with stakeholders and business people ahead of the fourth round of FTA negotiations, set for June 13 in the UK.
During a curtain raiser event on Thursday evening for the annual UK-India Week by India Global Forum (IGF) scheduled from June 27, Mr. Goyal pointed to the FTAs concluded at speed with the UAE and Australia as a sign of things to come.
"Canada is progressing well towards an early harvest agreement. With the UK, we had agreed to do an early harvest agreement – basically, to grab the low-hanging fruits and leave the more difficult elements for the next stage and give the people of both countries the confidence that this agreement is a win-win,” the Minister said.
“But the way things are progressing, we’ll actually land up doing a full FTA with the UK by Diwali. I have had very good meetings on it,” he said.
Diwali in October was set as a timeline for a draft FTA after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India last month.
Indian High Commissioner Gaitri Issar Kumar revealed at the event that Prime Minister Johnson has already extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart to visit the U.K. to sign off on the draft agreement once it is ready later in the year.
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