Piyush Goyal discusses bilateral trade ties, FTA with UK's Truss
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 08, 2021: MINISTER of Commerce and Industry Mr Piyush Goyal met UK Secretary of State for International Trade Ms Elizabeth Truss and discussed the India-Britain trade and investment relationship.
An official statement from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday said the two leaders met on February 6 and discussed the "entire range of bilateral trade and economic relations in a spirit of mutual understanding of each other's priorities and trade sensitivities."
The visit follows a virtual dialogue between the two ministers in November, 2020 to review the progress on a closer post-Brexit bilateral tie-up.
"Using the first post-COVID-19 visit of a Trade Minister to India, we hope to formalise our historic and vibrant trade relationship to create an alliance of two democracies India and UK," Mr Goyal said in a tweet later.
The ministers reiterated their commitment to long term India-UK partnership and agreed to deepen trade cooperation through an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP). They also reviewed progress in removing market access barriers on both sides and ongoing cooperation in response to COVID-19.
"We are committed to developing an enhanced trade partnership between our two democracies and building back better from COVID-19," Ms Truss said on Twitter.
The ongoing engagement were reviewed for an ETP as part of the development of a roadmap that would lead to a long-awaited potential comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA), including considerations on an Interim Agreement on preferential basis.
In a significant step forward, the ministers agreed that this partnership would formally be launched during the visit of UK Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson to India, later this year.
"To this effect, the ministers committed themselves to make concrete progress on trade and investment front to deliver quick gains for both countries including joint timelines for further advances," said the statement.
They also agreed to relaunch the UK-India CEO Forum and reaffirmed their commitment to work with businesses to improve the business environment and collectively address the challenges to post-COVID-19 economic recovery.