British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday said he was committed to a trade deal with India. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Sunak also said he was confident Britain and the United States could deepen their economic relationship but that he had not spoken specifically about a trade deal with US President Joe Biden, news agency Reuters reported.
Sunak's statement came even as Indonesia handed over the G20 presidency to India for the coming year at the Bali Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi terming it a matter of pride for every Indian citizen.
“We remain committed to a trade deal with India, but we need to get these things right… There is excitement about India taking over the G20 presidency,” Reuters quoted Sunak as saying.
Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted and said “India attaches great importance to robust India-UK ties”.
“Was great to meet PM @RishiSunak in Bali. India attaches great importance to robust India-UK ties. We discussed ways to increase commercial linkages, raise the scope of security cooperation in context of India’s defence reforms and make people-to-people ties even stronger,” Modi tweeted.
Both India and Britain launched negotiations for the free-trade agreement (FTA) in January with an aim to conclude talks by October 24, but the deadline was missed due to a political crisis in the UK, reported Live Mint. The bilateral trade between India and Britain increased to $17.5 billion in 2021-22 compared to $13.2 billion in 2020-21. India's exports stood at $10.5 billion in 2021-22, while imports were $7 billion.
{{/usCountry}}Both India and Britain launched negotiations for the free-trade agreement (FTA) in January with an aim to conclude talks by October 24, but the deadline was missed due to a political crisis in the UK, reported Live Mint. The bilateral trade between India and Britain increased to $17.5 billion in 2021-22 compared to $13.2 billion in 2020-21. India's exports stood at $10.5 billion in 2021-22, while imports were $7 billion.
{{/usCountry}}On UK-US deals, Sunak said he had spoken to Biden about economic cooperation, particularly on energy.
"I am filled with optimism about our ability to do more trade with the US, to deepen our economic relationship. That can happen in lots of different ways and you'll see that over the coming months and years, I am sure," he said.
Bloomberg reported that Sunak said he didn’t discuss a prospective trade deal with the US when he met with Biden, suggesting Britain has given up for now on what was once touted as one of the great prizes of Brexit.
“We didn’t discuss the trade deal in particular, but we did discuss our economic partnership,” Sunak said.
Sunak also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
The new British PM criticised Russia for firing missiles at Ukraine just as the G20 met to seek a resolution to the war.