India, UK set up 3 new bilateral trade working groups

India and the UK have agreed to set up three new bilateral working groups to tackle barriers to trade in specific sectors of food and drink, healthcare and data services as part of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting in London on Monday.

The three new business-led working groups will be run by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) alongside the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"What makes JETCO so important is that it is more than just a government to government bilateral, there is the direct involvement of business," UKIBC Chief Operation Officer (COO) Kevin McCole told PTI in an interview.

"Today saw the launch of three new bilateral business-led working groups to take deep dive into the issues, from a business perspective, and make recommendations to ministers on how to unlock remaining barriers to trade in food and drink, life sciences and healthcare, and digital and data services," he said.

The purpose of JETCO is to identify, and find solutions to, non-tariff barriers to trade.

"The Joint Trade Review, launched in November 2016, has made good progress bilateral trade grew 22 per cent in 2018, against the average of 8.8 per cent per annum since 2002," McCole said.

The latest JETCO meeting, which included bilateral trade talks between India's commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and UK secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox, is the 13th such meeting to take place between the two countries.

The UKIBC, a membership-based non-profit body set up to promote the UK-India economic partnership, plays the role of a Secretariat for the JETCO talks and provides a forum for UK companies to enhance their links and develop new partnerships with Indian businesses.

"The UKIBC organised what was a fascinating and open meeting for minister Goyal to meet major UK businesses that have invested significantly in India. There was positivity about the Indian economy and a sense of shared ambition that India should be a global economic superpower within the next decade. There was also recognition that reform was needed to achieve this, and a range of ideas were put forward," McCole said.

The UKIBC said in reference to the meeting that UK businesses felt encouraged that the Indian government is committed to serious higher education reform focusing on delivering world-class graduates.

UK businesses also expressed their support for transforming India's immense data cache into AI solutions, which will revolutionise sectors as diverse as healthcare, education, and agriculture.

"Certainty on a sector-agnostic, intuitive, and transparent data protection framework enforced by an independent and tech-savvy Data Protection Authority will maximise trust and lay the ground-work for a UK-India Common Data Agreement," McCole explained.

In healthcare, the UKIBC feels that the success of Ayushman Bharat will rapidly increase demand for pharmaceuticals.

In order to augment supply, India stands to benefit from building on international best practice to design a new drug pricing framework that enhances pharmaceutical quality, availability, and affordability for Indian citizens.

"Taking Ease of Doing Business reforms down to the State and District levels will be a major part of transforming the day-to-day manufacturing environment, especially for SMEs. Likewise, strengthening IP enforcement, streamlining customs approvals, delivering globally competitive taxation rates, and reforming the defense offset rules would signal India's national determination to be a global, high-value, manufacturing hub," McCole said.

In reference to the prospects of a post-Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK, the UKIBC believes that such an agreement will come in time, but there is a great deal that can be done to address the barriers to trade and investment, including any sticking points around ease of movement for students and professionals.

McCole said: "It is often said that India will require more access to UK work visas as part of a trade deal. An important part of today's JETCO was a meeting between Indian businesses and the Home Office officials leading the consultation on the UK's Skills-Based Immigration White Paper.

"Although India already receives 60 per cent or all work visas the UK issues more than the rest of the world combined, the UK is determined to engage seriously and deeply with Indian business to make sure the future legislation is right and that it is well-understood in India."