Next round of India-UK trade talks to take place in June

The UK and India will hold their next round of talks in June here and both sides want to conclude the negotiations at the earliest possible time, a senior government official said.

Santosh Kumar Saranagi, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said trade negotiations are a matter of give and take, independent of elections in individual countries.

"The effort is to expedite the negotiations…(There was a) Diwali deadline (to conclude the talks last year) was given, but for variety of reasons, it was extended. But the effort on both sides is to conclude it at the earliest," he told reporters here.

The tenth round of negotiation is from June 5-9 here and "hopefully we will make some substantial progress during that time," he added.

As India designs an emission trading system, it needs to balance conflicting interests. On January 13, 2021, negotiations began. During the talks, 26 policy areas and chapters will be discussed.

An investment agreement is being negotiated separate from the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA).

As of now, 13 chapters have been substantially closed for negotiations, and regular meetings have been held at higher levels to review the progress and resolve outstanding issues.

The fifth round of negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) will take place in India from June 19-23.

According to him, the second Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) meeting will take place in Bengaluru on May 23-25.

The G20 will convene technical sessions focused on WTO reform as well as key deliverables on key issues such as trade for growth and prosperity, resilient global value chains, integrating MSMEs into global trade, and efficient logistics.

At the meeting, the agenda will include deliverables and outcomes proposed by India on global trade and investment.