London and New Delhi signed a free trade agreement on Thursday after years of arduous negotiations on British whiskey or Indian textiles, during a visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United Kingdom.
This agreement, concluded in May, is the “most significant economic level since the liberation of the United Kingdom of the European Union,” said British leader Keir Starmer.
He praised a “historic day” for the two countries, during an organized press conference in Ladies, the residence of the campaign of the British prime ministers in northwestern London.
India, the fifth economy and the most populous country in the world, is a gigantic market of 1.4 billion inhabitants.
25.5 billion more commercial books
Narendra Modi, was delighted with “writing a new chapter” between India and the United Kingdom, two “natural partners”, after “many years of hard work” to achieve it.
Started in 2022 at the time of Boris Johnson, the negotiations were relaunched at the end of February when the president of the United States, Donald Trump, began to stir the threat of customs duties, partly implemented.
The agreement with India will increase the bilateral trade of 25.5 billion pounds, but will finally add 4.8 billion pounds per year to the British GDP, estimated at 2,800 billion, according to official figures.
It should make it possible to reduce by 15% on average, customs tariffs of British goods exported to India, such as whiskey, which will be taxed by 75% instead of 150%, then 40% in ten years, parts used in aeronautical or medical devices.
In return, London will reduce their own rights over clothing, shoes, engineering products and food products produced in India.
Meeting with Carlos III
The United Kingdom, which matters from India approximately one more third than exports, has preserved strong economic and cultural ties with its former colony: 1.9 million people of Indian origin live in the country.
This is the fourth visit of the Indian Prime Minister, in power since 2014, and the first since Keir Starmer arrived at Downing Street a year ago.
Before embarking on Wednesday for the United Kingdom, the Indian leader was also “delighted to visit his Majesty Carlos III”, whom he must meet in the afternoon.
This day, the visit occurs more than a month after the accident of the Air India plane to London, which left 260 dead, including 52 British on June 12 after taking off from Ahmedabad in India.
A lawyer who represents 20 British families of victims, James Healy-Pratt, told the Pennsylvania agency that the relatives of a deceased person had discovered that his left-wing remains had been “mixed” with those of another person.
He added that another British family had learned that the body was supposed to be that of his loved one was not his own, and he hoped that the file was on the agenda of the two leaders.
Another delicate theme is that of the Scottish blogger Sij Jagtar Singh Johal, imprisoned in India since 2017, accused of being involved in a terrorist plot against Hindu leaders very well Hindu.
He was never convicted of crime and, last March, he was acquitted in one of the nine cases against him. His brother Gurreet Singh Johal had expressed his hope of seeing his case “appearing in good place on the agenda” of the discussions.
Source: BFM TV
