G20 Summit 2023: On the sidelines of the mega G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Saturday. The leaders were expected to discuss the India-UK free trade deal during the meet.
After the meeting, PM Modi said in a ost on X (formerly Twitter) that they discussed various ways to deepen trade linkages and increase investment. "India and UK will keep working for a prosperous and sustainable planet," he said.
Sunak, who landed in India for the G20 summit on Friday, was also received warmly by PM Modi at the venue. Before proceeding to the meeting hall, PM Modi and United Kingdom PM Rishi Sunak were seen engaged in light talks.
The day before, Sunak had said there was “still some way to go” for a free trade pact with India to be finalised, but appeared confident that the final outcome will be a "forward-looking" and "modern" deal that would benefit both sides and facilitate shared ambition of doubling trade by 2030.
"Both Modi ji and I are keen to see a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal concluded between our two countries...Trade deals always take time, they need to work for both countries. Although we have made enormous progress there is still hard work to go," he said in an interview to news agency ANI.
Speaking on his visit to India, the British PM said, "I am hugely proud of my Indian roots and my connections to India. As you know, my wife is Indian and being a proud Hindu means I will always have a connection to India and the people of India."
The British PM was received by Union Minister of State Ashwini Choubey at the airport on Friday. Prior to his arrival, Sunak said that he was referred to as the "son-in-law of India" and expressed his excitement about coming to India to attend the mega event.
India-UK trade deal
Days before the summit, Sunak said that his government will only agree to a pact that works for the whole of the United Kingdom. “He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree to an approach which worked for the whole of the UK,” notes a Downing Street readout of the Cabinet meeting.
India is already one of the UK’s largest trading partners, with a relationship worth GBP 36 billion a year, according to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
The Sunak government said that Britain has no plans to change its approach to reducing net migration in order to help secure a free trade deal with India. There is growing optimism that a free trade deal between the countries could be concluded this year, as both sides agree on the broad contours of the pact, though the remaining topics to be discussed are somewhat difficult.
"The Prime Minister believes that the current levels of migration are too high ... To be crystal clear, there are no plans to change our immigration policy to achieve this free trade agreement and that includes student visas," Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said.
About the FTA
A free trade agreement is a deal between two or more countries where they agree on certain obligations that affect trade in goods and services, and protections for investors and intellectual property rights, among other topics. The main goal is to provide a better deal for citizens of the concerned countries involved.
India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January last year, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship worth an estimated GBP 34 billion in 2022.
According to the joint statement released by India and the UK, both nations had held the eleventh round of talks in London on July 18. As with previous rounds, this was conducted in a hybrid fashion - a number of Indian officials travelled to London for negotiations and others attended virtually.
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