British Foreign Secretary David Lammy
– Photo: ANI
Expansion
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will arrive on a two-day visit to India from Wednesday. The long-pending India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and New Delhi’s concerns over the activities of pro-Khalistan elements in Britain are expected to be discussed in extensive talks between Lammy and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the evening. Apart from this, the two are also likely to discuss serious global challenges including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Middle East.
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This will be the first high-level talks between the two sides after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government came to power in Britain.
The British Foreign Secretary is also scheduled to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during which both sides are likely to reaffirm their commitment to the proposed free trade agreement. According to information, the two sides have already agreed on about 90 per cent of the trade deal, but the remaining 10 per cent includes several tricky issues such as import duty on automobiles and Scotch whisky and visas for business people. However, both sides are ready to conclude the talks as soon as possible.
Let us tell you that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British PM Starmer had a phone conversation on July 6. During this, the issue of FTA was raised between the two leaders. A readout from the Government of India said that the two leaders agreed to work towards concluding a mutually beneficial India-UK free trade agreement soon. After the phone conversation with PM Modi, the UK government issued a statement in which PM Starmer said that he is ready to conclude an agreement that will work for both sides.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and British Foreign Secretary Lammy are expected to review the implementation of the India-UK roadmap during the talks, which seeks to broad-base the relationship across a number of areas. In 2021, India and the UK adopted a 10-year roadmap to expand ties in key areas such as trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections.