G20 podium
Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said India and the United Kingdom (UK) would be able to resolve the pending issues for a free-trade agreement (FTA) in the oming weeks, as the remaining issues were not insurmountable.
“FTAs are crystal-gazing into the future. You have to really project how the agreement will play out in 20, 30, 50 years into the future. So they are drafted very carefully. One never rushes to do an FTA. One should do it with great care and consideration of different interests,” Goyal told news agency ANI.
He said both sides were looking at issues that are of a very sensitive nature as well as very important to each other. “We hope that in the coming weeks we will be able to come to some conclusion,” he said./
Goyal said both sides had several rounds of negotiations, and 20 of 26 chapters had been sealed. “Currently, we are in active dialogue on different tracks. Amongst the few issues pending, there is nothing impossible to navigate,” he said.
Earlier on November 16, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal had told reporters that they were not working under any deadlines on the conclusion of negotiations on the FTA.
