India, UK Set to Resume FTA Talks in February

New Delhi: The commerce ministry on Wednesday said that India and the UK are exploring convenient dates to resume the talks for the proposed free trade agreement or FTA in early February. The talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles.

As per the government data, the bilateral trade between India and the UK increased to $21.34 billion in 2023-24 from $20.36 billion in 2022-23. Regarding a similar agreement with the European Union (EU), the ministry said that the tenth round of talks is scheduled from March 10-14 in Brussels.

The two sides are negotiating a free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement and an agreement on geographical indications (GIs). In the ninth round, both sides discussed trade issues covering goods, services, investment and government procurement along with necessary rules such as rules of origin, SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary), and technical barriers to trade.

In June 2022, India and the 27-nation EU bloc resumed the negotiations after a gap of over eight years. It was stalled in 2013 due to differences over several issues. The total trade has surpassed $200 billion in 2023. India exported $75.18 billion in goods and $31.13 billion in services to the EU, while the EU exported $63.44 billion in goods and $31.35 billion in services to India.

Further on the India-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) FTA, the ministry said that the two sides are currently in the process of finalising terms of references for the pact. The five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

In such deals, two or more trading partners either eliminate or significantly cut customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. These agreements provide greater market access to Indian goods and services. Russia is the top trading partner of India, where India’s exports to Russia stood at $4.26 billion in 2023-24 and imports $61.43 billion due to an increase in crude oil imports.