The parameters of the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations will be revisited this week with foreign secretary David Lammy's visit to India on Tuesday.
FTA talks began in January 2022 under the Conservative government, aiming to significantly enhance the GBP 38.1 billion annual bilateral trade. However, the discussions were paused during the fourteenth round due to general elections in both countries.
A report in 'The Daily Telegraph' on Sunday quoted a New Delhi source, indicating that India seeks clarity on whether the Labour government will continue from where the previous negotiations left off or start anew.
“India is keen to resume talks on a positive note, but the date needs clarity,” the source said. “The trade deal was at the final stage in the previous government, and we want to see whether the Labour government wants to start from where we left it in March before the elections or start afresh from scratch. Our stance on visas for professionals remains unchanged. We are expecting a positive outcome under the Labour government.”
David Lammy recently addressed the India Global Forum (IGF) in London, expressing his intent to finalise the deal quickly. "My message to [Finance] Minister [Nirmala] Sitharaman and [Trade] Minister [Piyush] Goyal is that Labour is ready to go. Let's finally get our free trade deal done and move on,” he said, referring to former prime minister Boris Johnson's missed Diwali 2022 deadline.
“With Labour, the days of Boris Johnson reciting that old verse from Rudyard Kipling in Asia are over. If I recite a poem in India, it will be Tagore... because with a superpower like India, the areas of cooperation and the areas for learning are limitless,” Lammy added.
Regarding visas, which have been highlighted in the UK media as a major issue in the talks, high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami clarified that it is not India's priority.
He explained: “What we're trying to do with this free trade agreement is to increase the depth or the extent of ambition, including in goods and services, that we'd like to offer to the UK. Visas are not the first priority for us in an FTA. We are not looking at the FTA as a means to bring people to the UK, that is not the objective. What we're looking for is whatever is reasonable within the broad framework of international trade and services under Mode 4 of GATS [General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organisation] to be able to have persons travelled for intercompany transfers etc.”
The Labour Party's manifesto pledged to seek a “new strategic partnership with India, including a free trade agreement, as well as deepening cooperation in areas like security, education, technology and climate change.”
Lammy's visit to India next week, en route to the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic, is expected to set the tone for realising this pledge.
(With inputs from PTI)
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event