To complete London trade Bridge, Piyush Goyal set to visit UK again soon

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal may travel to London again later this week in an attempt to resolve the four-five thorny issues that still remain and announce the conclusion of negotiations for the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA), people in the know of the development said. The minister was in the UK Monday and Tuesday when an announcement on the FTA was expected.

Goyal arrived in the UK on Monday for two days where he met UK secretary of state for trade and business Jonathan Reynolds to advance the FTA negotiations. On Tuesday he met chancellor of exchequer Rachel Reeves.

On Wednesday, he was in Norway and on Thursday he is scheduled to be in Brussels to meet the EU leadership. Goyal's return to the UK is expected on Friday or Saturday. An announcement on the signing of the FTA and two other pacts - bilateral investment agreement (BIT) and social security pact (officially dubbed as the Double Contribution Convention Agreement) - could be made then.

"Talks are progressing fast. Many issues were resolved during high level ministerial visits to the UK," said a person.

The FTA has 26 chapters that include goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights. At least 23 of these are concluded and more than 75% of the agreement is legally vetted. Last month, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the UK to give further push to the BIT talks. Before that, on February 24, Goyal and Reynolds announced the resumption of negotiations for the proposed FTA.

New Delhi's ask for an exemption from the UK's proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which is to be introduced on January 1, 2027, remains unresolved. Similarly, Britain's keenness on more opportunities for its services in India are among the other sticking points.