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Great Britain and India have had interviews on closer financial cooperation while they rush to conclude a trade agreement, New Delhi officials saying that the trade war of US President Donald Trump had put a new impetus behind the negotiations.
An Indian government official said on Wednesday that commercial discussions with the United Kingdom were going to “very well” and that the trade agreement could be concluded in the coming months.
There have already been false blades on a bilateral trade agreement, especially when the former British Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised that he would be signed “Diwali” in October 2022.
But Indian officials say that pressure from the United States has given new momentum to trade talks long late with the United Kingdom and the EU, New Delhi and Brussels saying that they expect to conclude this last agreement this year.
India, which opened commercial discussions with Great Britain three years ago, was struck by an American tax of 26% on its goods in the World Cycle of Trump prices. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also called for faster commercial talks after the United States imposed a 10% levy on British imports.
Negotiations have already fallen on issues including visas for the Indians assigned by their companies in the United Kingdom and British Social Security payments for Indians who spent part of their career working in the United Kingdom.
Great Britain hopes to have better access to Indian markets for advanced manufacturing, clean energy, financial services and professional and commercial services.
British Chancellor Rachel Reeves met the Minister of Finance of India Nirmala Sitharaman in London on Wednesday for an economic and financial dialogue from British India and has committed to accelerating trade agreements.
“Our relationship with India is long and broad and I am delighted with the progress made throughout this dialogue to develop it more,” she said.
The two parties praised a certain number of transactions to illustrate the deepening of commercial links. Paytm, an Indian digital payment application, has developed plans to invest in the United Kingdom, while the University of Coventry announced that it had obtained a license to open a campus in Gujarat.
Previously, Reeves promised leaders of the city of London.
Reeves told figures such as Charlie Nunn of Lloyds Banking Group, Dan Olley de Hargreaves Lansdown, Andrea Rossi of M&G and António Simões de L&G that Great Britain could offer foreign investors “resilience” in a turbulent world.
A person who attended the meeting said: “There was a general feeling of calm, while exercising prudence and a need to closely monitor the developments.”
The person added that there was a general feeling that there had not yet been a “significant reaction” of customers to the agitation of the market launched by Trump’s prices, but an acceptance that volatility would affect all economies.
