Bharat and UK are “trying to crack the
toughest knots” in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations, said British High
Commissioner Alex Ellis on Friday.
He said this during an interactive
session at the Annual Convention of FICCI.
“We are now trying to crack the toughest
knots in the FTA negotiations. It is not that easy. I don’t think we could do
it in three months. I don’t know how to do it in three months,” he said.
Ellis said the FTA with UK will be the
broadest Bharat has done and will also have an investment treaty with it.
“This will be by far the broadest FTA Bharat
has done, if we manage to do it. And there is an investment treaty as well,” he
said.
Bharat and UK launched the talks for FTA
in January 2022, with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali last year, but the
deadline was missed due to political developments in UK.
There are 26 chapters in the agreement,
which include goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights.
The Indian industry is demanding greater
access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT, and healthcare in UK
market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duties.
On the other hand, UK is seeking a
significant cut in import duties on goods such as scotch whiskey, automobiles,
lamb meat, chocolates and certain confectionary items.
Britain is also looking for more
opportunities for UK services in Indian markets in segments like
telecommunications, legal and financial services (banking and insurance).
The bilateral trade between Bharat and UK
increased to US$ 20.36 billion in 2022-23 from US$ 17.5 billion in 2021-22.
PTI
