Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 10 (ANI): Emphasising the need for governments to provide more follow-through support and make sure that the connections are in the right place for success of trade deals, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday that his government wants to be hands-on and make sure that India-UK CETA really does deliver and he would “rather be on the pitch personally”.
Addressing the India-UK CEO Forum here, he said that since the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed in July, there has bee 6 billion Pounds boost in trade and investment.
“The trade deal, as I’ve said a number of times over the last two days, is of course the writing, what’s written down, what that will mean for reducing barriers to trade, whether it’s tariff or other barriers, but it’s more than that because it’s about mood, it’s about confidence, it’s about a statement of intent that goes beyond the pure words on the page. I think we can really see that. When I see the excitement and the discussions going on, I remind myself we haven’t yet implemented the FTA,” he said.
“I think that is evidence that formality is important, and it will make a big difference. But more than that is the coming together of two great democracies. In the three months since we actually signed that back in Chequers, we’ve seen a £6 billion boost in trade and investment. That’s on top of the increased numbers over the last year already in the great ambition we have to go further, which I believe we can do as we go down this road. It includes Rolls-Royce agreeing huge new contracts with major Indian airlines. Today, we’re announcing new investments from Revolut and Tide. Exactly these sorts of connections we’re trying to build,” he added.
Starmer said businesses and investors from both sides have been discussing and sharing ideas during his visit.
“In the past, certainly on the UK side, I feel strongly that governments have negotiated trade deals and then basically left them on the table and walked away and said, well, it’s now over to you. I think we’ve got to do things differently, and governments have to provide more follow-through support and make sure that the connections are in the right place… Instead of building a stadium and then saying to the players, get on with it, we want to be on the pitch with you as well, or at least on the side, like a well-engaged manager or coach. I would rather be on the pitch personally. We’ve got to follow this through. Taking a different approach, we want to be hands-on and make sure that this deal, the potential of this deal, really does deliver, and that’s why this forum is really important,” he said.
“We’ve already had a really productive couple of days. We’ve brought together businesses and investors from both sides, from India and the UK, to network, to pitch, to discuss, to share ideas, and that’s what they’ve been doing. I’ve seen it happening all around in the last two days, in corners of rooms, around tables over food or drink, and discussions going on. It’s been an incredible buzz on our side on the delegation. We felt this on the plane on the way over. There was incredible energy, and it’s been a real buzz around these meetings. I think it is the continuation of what we started in Chequers. I’ve always seen this as a sort of two-part exercise. We had the FTA itself, we had an excellent meeting in Chequers. It was my privilege to have some of you there and to have the Prime Minister there at Chequers for that historic meeting and then to have this as the second part of that. I see this as a celebration of the partnership between the UK and India and a clear display of our belief in the potential,” he added.
The UK PM said mutual investments in the two countries are supporting thousands of jobs.
“We’ve got huge, really important businesses and investors amongst the key businesses, investors when it comes to our relationship with India and iconic businesses. We’ve got medium-sized businesses, smaller businesses, but we’ve also got huge talent and experience across finance, sport, tech and manufacturing. Whilst we’ve been here, we’ve been able to do deals on films,” he said.
“Yesterday I saw the Premier League doing their coaching training, that is going to go out across the whole of India. I think all of this shows that this is not a narrow enterprise around just one or two sectors, it’s a much broader ambition than that. So what an incredible foundation we have to build on. We build on a solid foundation because billions already flow in trade and investment between our two countries, supporting thousands of jobs in both of our countries,” he added. (ANI)
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