High-Quality FTA With India A Priority Says UK Trade Minister

London
Britain's trade minister in charge of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India says clinching a high-quality deal is among her top priorities for the year, while admitting the talks had hit a bit of an impasse which she broke by flying to New Delhi last month. In a speech addressing business leaders at Lancaster House in London, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch insisted the FTA talks are now back on track. It comes after the Diwali 2022 deadline for the FTA set by former prime minister Boris Johnson was missed last October amid political turmoil in Britain.
Some of you will know I was a software engineer and a systems analyst before I became a politician. That means I'm a problem solver at heart, said Badenoch. So when our Indian trade talks hit a bit of an impasse, I didn't pick up the phone; I got on a plane. She said that deal is not done yet, but it's back on track. In early December, Badenoch was in New Delhi to hold talks with her counterpart, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and kick off the sixth round of FTA talks. The seventh round is expected in the UK in the coming weeks, with both sides still deciding whether to set a new deadline for completing the negotiations.