India, UK likely to ink early harvest trade deal, mobility agreement, 10-year-roadmap for ties

Johnson writes to Modi accepting invitation to attend Republic Day ceremony as Chief Guest

India and the United Kingdom will speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement and sign an early harvest deal as early as next month when British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will visit New Delhi as the Chief Guest in the Republic Day ceremony.

Johnson has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepting the invitation from the Government of India to attend the Republic Day ceremony on January 26, 2021. He has also invited Modi to take part in the G-7 summit, which will be hosted by the UK Government next year. When the two Prime Ministers meet in New Delhi next month, they are expected to announce a 10-year-roadmap for India-UK relations as well as an “Enhanced Trade Partnership”, which will be a prelude to the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Apart from focusing on stepping up bilateral trade and investment relations to boost post-Covid-19 economic recovery in both India and the UK, the two sides are also keen to use the British Prime Minister’s visit to India to step up cooperation in defence and security as well as in dealing with climate change. They will also focus on enhancing cooperation in the healthcare sector, building on partnership between the Serum Institute of India and the AstraZeneca PLC to produce the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Oxford University of the UK.

Johnson’s tour to New Delhi is going to be his first foreign visit after the UK’s departure from the European Union will be completed on December 31. He is also going to be the first foreign leader to visit New Delhi after the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world in February-March this year.

“As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet,” the British Prime Minister was quoted saying in a press-release issued by his office in London. Johnson also said that he was looking forward to the “quantum leap” in the UK-India bilateral relationship that he and Modi “pledged to achieve”.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab met in New Delhi on Tuesday and discussed ways to step up trade and economic engagement, apart from defence and security cooperation. They discussed a comprehensive migration and mobility partnership agreement, which is also likely to be signed next month to facilitate swifter movement of students and professionals between India and the UK.

Raab said that he and Jaishankar agreed to “work together to deliver an Enhanced Trade Partnership to unlock the huge potential for British and Indian businesses and jobs”. Jaishankar said that India too had a “serious intent” to take the trade relationship with the UK forward.

The UK is keen on expediting negotiation with India for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in order to support economic recovery after the Covid-19 crisis as well as to cushion the impact of its exit from the EU. New Delhi has also over the past few months evinced interests in clinching the proposed bilateral trade deal at the earliest, even as negotiations for India-EU FTA could not make any progress over the past few years.

The India-UK bilateral trade in goods has been in the range of $15.45 billion during the FY 2019-20, remained in favour of India, but reduced by 11.33 per cent in comparison to the previous year. Both India’s export to and import from the UK reduced in the last financial year. The UK ranked 14th in the list of India’s trading partners during the year 2019-20, slipping from the second position in 1998-99. The UK-India investment however supports over half a million jobs in each other’s economies.