India-UK reaffirms commitment to expeditiously finalize Free Trade Agreement: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: The 12th annual India-UK Economic Financial Dialogue meeting was held in New Delhi yesterday under the joint leadership of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt. Discussions on macroeconomic and multilateral issues, Financial Services, trade, infrastructure investments, and Green Financing were held during the meeting.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Mr Hunt, after the meeting, Finance Minister Sitharaman said, India and the UK have reaffirmed their commitment to expeditiously finalise a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. She said both sides are keen on concluding the FTA as soon as possible. Ms Sitharaman said, they are highly encouraged by the intensified collaboration between India and the UK in the area of financial services. 

She said, the UK expressed willingness to further extend



its footprint in the GIFT City International Financial Services Centre and foster a robust FinTech partnership. The Finance Minister expressed happiness over the tangible progress achieved through the India-UK financial partnership which has evolved into a leading public and private sector collaborative forum for dialogue across the financial sector.  

She said, that with emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning redefining financial services and India's new Digital Personal Data Protection Act, there are ample opportunities for both nations to collaborate on frameworks for secure and inclusive financial intermediation. Ms Sitharaman said, the success of the India-UK Green Growth Equity Fund is a testament to the efficacy of public-private partnerships in channelling large-scale sustainable finance.