The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations are very much on track and have not been suspended over the UK’s failure to denounce vandalism by Sikh separatists outside the Indian High Commission in London last month, senior government sources have said.
“Reports on India disengaging from the talks because of the Sikh separatist group issue are baseless. We deny it,” a government official told businessline.
India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January 17, 2022 and had set a target of doubling bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030. There were six rounds of talks in 2022 and two more have taken place in 2023.
“There have been no instructions for us to stop future round of negotiations on the FTA. The negotiations are indeed tough, but that is how trade talks are. Negotiations are very much on track,” another official tracking the trade talks said.
The Indian government officials were responding to a British media report alleging that New Delhi had stalled trade negotiations over the UK’s failure to condemn a Sikh extremist group that vandalised the Indian High Commission in London in March.