NEW DELHI: India and the UK are working resolve differences on issues such as intellectual property rights (IPRs) and rules of origin under the “most complex” free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated by the two countries, said Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal on Friday.
Fourteen out of 26 chapters in the agreement had been closed, he said, adding differences also persisted in chapters relating to environment, labour, and digital trade.
“The UK will be the first (country) with which we are going to have a comprehensive FTA that we have not signed with any other developed country as such… In services also, there are few issues… So we are working on those. Hopefully, we will be able to close it and move,” he stated. The two sides are separately negotiating an investment treaty that will be announced with the FTA.
The seventh round of FTA talks have been initiated after a visit to London last week by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. India is particularly sensitive to the “rules of origin” issue, which stipulates minimal processing that should happen in the FTA country for a product coming from another country. This is to avoid dumping of goods from the FTA country, which is produced by another country, but the label has been changed.
India wants greater access for its skilled professionals and the entry of Indian whiskey. The UK wants cut in the import duties on Scotch whisky and greater outlet for its services sector. The bilateral trade was at $20.36 billion in 2022-23, against $17.5 billion in 2021-22.