I won’t rush India-UK trade agreement – Sunak

Rishi Sunak , who is currently in India for a G20 summit, mentioned that he will take his time before finalizing a trade agreement between the UK and India.

The UK prime minister said the negotiations, which started in early last year, would not have a set end date.

People are increasingly hopeful that an agreement could be reached before the year ends.

Mr Sunak said to reporters that we have made some progress, but we haven’t reached our goal yet.

India and the UK have not yet made a trade agreement since the UK left the European Union’s trading system in 2021. If they do, India would be the largest country to do so.

Mr Sunak is going to India to attend a meeting with leaders from the biggest economies in the world called the G20.

There is no plan for a UK-India agreement, but Mr. Sunak is expected to talk about what has happened until now with his Indian partner Narendra Modi during the summit this weekend.

He received a warm welcome when he arrived in Delhi on Friday. People greeted him with traditional dancers and music as he got off his plane.

Later on, he met some kids from a nearby school along with his wife Akshata Murty. She is the daughter of a very rich person who helped start a big technology company in India called Infosys.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty.
Caption for a picture.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty had a meeting with children from a nearby school at the British Council.

The two countries started talking about trading with each other in January last year. They have had twelve meetings about it so far, and the next one will happen later this month.

The UK wants India to reduce the high import taxes it imposes on British cars, dairy products, and drinks like Scotch whisky.

The UK wants India to let more UK financial and professional services companies work in India.

However,Sunak is being urged not to make it easier for Indian people to obtain visas in the UK. Reports suggest that the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is worried that this could make it harder to reduce overall immigration numbers.
Difficulty obtaining visa

Before the summit, the UK government stated that they would not give more student visas in order to make an agreement. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson also said that they do not intend to change their rules for immigration.

India’s ambassador to the UK has made it clear that India is not seeking additional visas. However, he did express a desire for Indian students studying in the UK to be allowed to gain practical work experience once they complete their studies.

Vikram Doraiswami said that Indian students are paying a lot of money to study in UK universities and they want the same rights as students from other countries.

He said India also wants to make it simpler for companies from both countries to temporarily move their workers, and for Indians working in the UK for short periods to be able to bring back their pension contributions to India.

“He said that we do not want migrants to be able to come here. They have been talking about this in your press, not in ours. ”
The Diwali deadline was not met.

The previous Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wanted to make a deal with India before October last year, in time for Diwali. However, he lost his position as Prime Minister in July and the deadline passed without a deal being made.

There are reports that Mr Modi wants to make a smaller deal to lower import taxes and make it easier for service companies to do business, before the election next year.

Mr Sunak recently talked to reporters and said that he has made sure to prioritize international negotiations that benefit the people of Britain since he became a part of the government.

“He said he won’t hurry things just for the sake of it, but will wait until they are right for us. ”