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UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is in India to advance bilateral ties and prepare for PM Keir Starmer’s visit after sealing the FTA, expected to boost annual trade by over £25 billion.
New Delhi: Weeks after the two countries sealed the free trade agreement (FTA), the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary David Lammy arrived in Delhi to further deepen, diversify the comprehensive strategic partnership and also prepare the ground for a planned visit by the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.
UK PM to visit India for FTA deal?
It is expected that the UK Prime Minister will be visiting India in the near future for the formal signing of the FTA.
The trade between the two countries is expected to increase by over £25bn every year after the signing of the FTA.
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UK foreign secretary's India visit
On his second visit to India, the foreign secretary will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold discussions about the ongoing economic and migration partnership.
UK High Commission in Delhi said that the bolstering economic and migration ties and delivering further growth opportunities for British businesses are the top priority of the foreign secretary.
The high commission also said: “The new deal with India is expected to increase bilateral trade by over £25 billion every year, UK GDP by £4.8 billion, and wages by £2.2 billion each year in the long run, putting money back in the pockets of working people.”
Addressing migration remains a top priority for the government - the Foreign Secretary is focused on working internationally with global partners to secure the UK’s borders at home.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “India was one of my first visits as Foreign Secretary, and since then has been a key partner in the delivery of our Plan for Change. Our relationship has gone from strength to strength – securing our future technologies, adding over £25bn in trade every year between our countries and deepening the strong links between our cultures and people.
“Signing a free trade agreement is just the start of our ambitions - we’re building a modern partnership with India for a new global era.”
“We want to go even further to foster an even closer relationship and cooperate when it comes to delivering growth, fostering innovative technology, tackling the climate crisis and delivering our migration priorities, and providing greater security for our people,” Lammy added.
Lammy to also meet Jaishankar
During his stay in India, Lammy will also meet India’s external affairs minister, S Jaishankar and leading Indian business tycoons. With businessmen, he will discuss about investment opportunities in the UK.
“Our investment relationship supports over 600,000 jobs across both countries, with over 950 Indian-owned companies in the UK and over 650 UK companies in India,” the high commission said.
In 2023-24, India was the UK’s second largest source of investments in terms of number of projects for the fifth consecutive year.
Lammy is also expected to address the recent escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terrorist attack and peace and tranquility in the region.
It must be noted that Lammy was among the world leaders who were involved in reducing tensions between two nuclear-armed nations before they announced cessation of military hostilities on May 10. He was in frequent contact with the Indian government and spoke to Jaishankar on May 15 and went to Islamabad on May 16 for two-day visit.
On May 6, India and the UK agreed for the FTA which is being believed to boost Indian exports of textiles, leather and engineering goods and cut levies on British whisky, automobiles and medical devices.
The deal between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies was finalised three years after Modi and his former British counterpart Boris Johnson set a target of concluding the FTA by October 2022.
