Next round of trade talks between India, UK to be held in June

New Delhi: India and the UK will hold their next round of talks for the proposed free trade agreement in next month in New Delhi. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Saranagi said there was a Diwali deadline to conclude the talks last year, but for variety of reasons it was extended. He added that both the sides are now aiming to conclude the negotiations at the earliest. 

Mr Saranagi also expressed hope that the 10th round of negotiation from 5th June to-9th June will make some substantial progress. The negotiations were launched on 13th January 2021 to cover 26 policy areas and chapters.

Mr Saranagi also informed that the 5th round of talks for a trade pact between India and the European Union (EU) is scheduled from June 19-23 in India. So far four rounds of negotiations have been completed till March. 

During the last round, negotiations on 21 policy areas in 74



technical sessions were held. Both sides also discussed modalities for exchange of offer in goods and services. About India-Canada trade agreement, the DGFT said that negotiations are at advance stage in goods and services market access.

 

7th round of talks was held during 3rd April to 6th April in Ottawa, Canada. Apart from traditional areas, the interim agreement may cover areas like SMEs, trade and gender, environment and labour. On the G20 talks, he said the second Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) meeting is now scheduled to be held on May 23-25 in Bengaluru. 

In dedicated technical sessions, G20 delegates will deliberate on priority on World Trade Organisation reform along with key deliverables on priority issues on resilient global value chains. The meeting will set the stage for building consensus among G20 countries on deliverables and outcomes proposed by India on global trade and investment-related issues.