Committed to working quickly on UK-India FTA: Rishi Sunak

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the UK government remains committed to working as quickly as possible towards a successful conclusion to the ongoing free trade agreement FTA talks with India as the majority of the substantive negotiation conversations were completed at the end of last monthAt a House of Commons session on the G20 Summit in Indonesia on Thursday the British Indian leader updated Parliament that he reviewed progress on the FTA during his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since taking charge at 10 Downing StreetHe was questioned by Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer and his own Conservative Party MPs on the timeline for the completion of the agreement with IndiaI discussed the free trade agreement with India and both the Prime Minister of India and I committed our teams to working as quickly as possible to see if we can bring a successful conclusion to the negotiations said SunakWithout negotiating all these things in public I am pleased that the majority of the substantive negotiation conversations were concluded by the end of October We will now work at pace with the Indian teams to try to resolve the issues and come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion he saidMore broadly he reiterated the UK governments stance since the Diwali deadline for the FTA was missed that he would not sacrifice quality for speed because it is important to take the time to get trade deals rightAlso read Another attempt on Imran Khans life possible Judge quotes intelligence reportSunak was questioned about his other discussions with Modi and whether he raised issues such as Indias stance over the RussiaUkraine conflict and also the UK being an exception within Europe to not be offered the evisa facility something he confirmed was discussed and will remain on the governments agendaOn Indias nonaligned position on the Ukraine conflict he claimed enormous comfort from the fact that the G20 communique contained strong language of condemnation about Russias aggressionOur relationship and partnership with India are much broader than just a trading relationship I was pleased to discuss increasing our security cooperation with India said SunakWe also announced the mobility scheme to enable young people from India to come here and young Brits to go there which is a sign of what is possible Such exchanges are positive both for our countries and for the young people who benefit he said with reference to the new UKIndia Young Professionals Scheme launched at the summit earlier this week involving 3000 new reciprocal visa offers annually for under30s dubbed as good for both Indian students and British students who want to go back and forthOn the new scheme Labours Indianorigin MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi questioned the move against the backdrop of dog whistle antiimmigrant rhetoric from Home Secretary Suella Bravermans incendiary remarks against international students that so incensed people in IndiaThe Labour Leader also attacked Braverman for putting the FTA deal with India in doubt after indicating that she would not support it with reference to her controversial remarks on Indians being the largest group of visa overstayersThe Home Secretary is rightly focused there is nothing dog whistle about it on clamping down on illegal migration which the British people rightly expect and demand and it is something that she and this government will deliver Sunak said in defence of his Cabinet ministerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever