India-UK FTA: Ongoing talks to clear thorny issues like labour, environment

India and the United Kingdom (UK) will be in a position to close as many as five chapters during the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations that will include contentious issues such as environment, labour, digital trade, among others, a senior government official said.

The 11th round of negotiation is underway in London from July 10-19.

Till now, out of 26 policy areas or chapters, 14 chapters have been closed for negotiations, while significant progress has been made in other chapters.

The official added that there are differences with respect to other issues such as intellectual property rights (IPR), rules of origin, and services. “We hope to close the issues as well,” the official said, adding that the proposed trade deal is complex since this will be the first FTA that India is set to sign that deals with several non-trade issues.

Earlier this week, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal met with his counterpart Kemi Badenoch that saw focus on the ‘low-hanging fruits’, along with ‘closure of several chapters’ in the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the United Kingdom.

The meeting between Goyal and Badenoch aimed at resolving thorny issues, where negotiators had been encountering challenges.