The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) on Monday said that businesses are looking forward to an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) that addresses market access barriers in the short- and medium-term and begins the journey to an eventual free trade agreement between India and the UK.
The two sides had decided earlier this year to launch an ETP to develop a roadmap that would lead to a potential comprehensive FTA, including considerations on an interim pact on a preferential basis.
The council said that by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, including the alignment of standards, the benefits will be felt across many sectors, most notably digital and ICT, food and drink, defence, healthcare and pharma, and advanced manufacturing.
As per the UKIBC, alongside the reduction and removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to goods trade, it is important that the ETP recognises the critical importance, to both countries, of knowledge- and technology- driven trade, such as digital, data, and financial services.
“With our economies growing and the barriers reducing, we at the UKIBC expect to see a step-change in the volume and nature of the trade and investment relationship,” UKIBC said, adding that bilateral trade grew 10% in the year before the pandemic.
India is the second largest investor in the UK and, over the last decade, the UK has been the second fastest growing G20 investor in India.
“The trade and investment partnership is particularly important, and the UKIBC hopes that the meeting tomorrow will provide more details of the Enhanced Trade Partnership initiated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industries, and his UK counterpart, Liz Truss, Secretary of State for International Trade,” the council said in a statement.
On Covid-19 recovery and healthcare, the council said the two sides can work on R&D and production, combining the best of their medical technology – including digital and AI- and our drug discovery capabilities.
On climate issues, it said tech-rich UK businesses are keen to collaborate with their Indian counterparts in a wide range of areas, including waste to energy, solar, wind, electric vehicles and associated infrastructure, and in hydrogen.
