The UK and India have made “enormous progress” toward signing a free-trade agreement, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, in his strongest indication yet that he hopes to clinch a deal this year.
“Both Modi Ji and I are keen to see a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal concluded between our two countries,” Sunak told Asian News International at the G-20 summit in New Delhi on Friday. “Both of us think that there is a good deal to be done.”
The British premier stressed there was “still hard work to do” and said an agreement had to “work for both countries.” But talking up the prospects of a deal, he added: “I think there is an enormous opportunity for both India and the UK to strengthen our economic cooperation which will bring real benefits to our citizens in both countries.”
India and the UK had softened their respective positions on most of their points of contention, Bloomberg News reported in August. Sunak suggested that after an FTA was signed he would seek to strengthen mutual security and science relationships. The UK is seeking to clinch new trade deals to highlight the benefits of Brexit, and India — the world’s most populous nation — would be a significant prize. While New Delhi agreed to slash tariffs on British cars and scotch whisky, the UK was willing to relax some visa rules for Indian professionals, Indian officials said last month.
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