NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Friday to discuss bilateral relations and issues of common interest. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the southern Italian resort city of Taormina.
This is the first in-person meeting between Sunak and PM Modi since their encounter at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September.During that meeting, they agreed to accelerate the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, aiming to finalize it before India’s general election. However, the trade negotiations are now expected to resume only after a new UK government is elected on July 4.
This is the first in-person meeting between Sunak and PM Modi since their encounter at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September.During that meeting, they agreed to accelerate the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, aiming to finalize it before India’s general election. However, the trade negotiations are now expected to resume only after a new UK government is elected on July 4.
The India-UK FTA negotiations, which began in January 2022, aim to significantly enhance bilateral trade, currently valued at around 38.1 billion pounds a year, according to official statistics from earlier this year.
The discussions between PM Modi and Sunak at the G7 summit underscore the ongoing commitment of both nations to strengthen their strategic partnership and address shared challenges.