: UKIBC Press Statements Ahead of PMs Boris Johnson Narendra Modis Bilateral Talks #IndiaNEWS #Business The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) welcomes the news that PM Modi and PM Johnson will meet

UKIBC Press Statements Ahead of PMs Boris Johnson Narendra Modis Bilateral Talks #IndiaNEWS #Business
The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) welcomes the news that PM Modi and PM Johnson will meet virtually tomorrow to deepen cooperation between our two countries, including on combatting COVID.
While the pandemic has to be the immediate priority, it is encouraging that the Prime Ministers are working together now on medium and long-term priorities such as climate action, healthcare, defence and security, and trade and investment.
Trade and Investment
The trade and investment partnership is particularly important, and the UKIBC hopes that the meeting tomorrow will provide more details of the Enhanced Trade Partnership initiated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industries, and his UK counterpart, Liz Truss, Secretary of State for International Trade.
Our two countries are starting from a position of strength. UK-India trade grew by 10 percent to GBP 24 billion in the year before the pandemic. India is the second largest investor in the UK and, over the last decade, the UK has been the second fastest growing G20 investor in India.
Nevertheless, there is great potential to do even better. The UK and India are the 5th and 6th largest economies in the world, they are both growing, and there is great complementarity between them.
Businesses are looking forward to the Governments implementing an Enhanced Trade Partnership that addresses market access barriers in the short- and medium-term and begins the journey to an eventual Free Trade Agreement.
With our economies growing and the barriers reducing, we at the UKIBC expect to see a step-change in the volume and nature of the trade and investment relationship. Alongside the reduction and removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to goods trade, it is important that the ETP recognises the critical importance, to both countries, of knowledge- and technology-driven trade, such as digital, data, and financial services.
By reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, including the alignment of standards, the benefits will be felt across many sectors, most notably digital and ICT, food and drink, defence, healthcare and pharma, and advanced manufacturing.
The Enhanced Trade Partnership is therefore important it will create jobs and prosperity in both countries, and we at the UKIBC look forward to supporting the implementation of the ETP on this exciting and important journey to an FTA.
COVID recovery and healthcare
The UK and India have cooperated and supported each other consistently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: in the UKs first wave the export of pharmaceuticals and PPE from India helped to save lives, the Oxford University-Astra Zeneca vaccine manufactured in Pune is one of the worlds leading vaccines, and now the UK is supporting the second wave in India through the export of oxygen concentrators, mobile oxygen factories, and ventilators.

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