London:
Nirmala Sitarman on Wednesday interacted with British Prime Minister Kir Stmper and Chancellor Rachel Reaves, who received the Finance Minister at his 11 Downing Street Office here.
The progress of the Indo-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was one of the subjects of the agenda of the meeting, which came ahead of the 13th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD).
Sitarman further told PTI from the dialogue that close cooperation between the financial areas of the two countries and strong educational relations to welcome British universities in India were among the areas of focus for discussions.
“We will also cover the mutual recognition of some businesses, which is important for both countries, and science and technology where the UK is in some major research positions and India would like to seek cooperation and cooperation,” Sitaraman said.
According to the Finance Ministry, EFD is an important bilateral platform between the two countries, including various aspects of financial cooperation, including investment cases, financial services, financial rules, UPI interlinks, taxation cases and illegal financial flows.
The major priorities for Wednesday’s EFD on the Indian side are marked as cooperation in the IFSC Gift City, Investment, Insurance and Pension Areas, Fintech and Digital Economy, and to raise cheap and permanent climate finance.
On behalf of the UK, Reavs said in a pre-dialogue statement that there are priorities for global issues and employment generation dialogues as Britain wants to “make a new business deal” with India.
“We will cover the subjects of development and global issues, as well as how we can increase the capacity for various fields and defense and to create jobs, investment and business opportunities, as part of the government’s plan,” said the UK Chancellor.
India and the UK have been interacting on an FTA for two years, last year after an interval to accommodate the general election cycles in both countries, the Star-Left Labor has been followed by the government. The trade deal is expected to significantly increase bilateral trading relations around GBP 41 billion last year.
During a conversation on India’s development trajectory in London on Tuesday, Sitarman welcomed the “great deal of enthusiasm of the UK enthusiasm” around the FTA and hoped that it would be signed soon instead of “later”.
(This story is not edited by NDTV employees and auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)