UK Trade Policy Observatory
As the Covid-19 crisis continues across India, the pandemic has highlighted a new dimension to the UK-India partnership, particularly in health and vaccine supply and distribution. And despite the UK Prime Minister’s intended trip to India being cancelled due to the second wave of Covid-19, the two countries’ ‘Enhanced Trade Partnership’ (ETP) remains at the centre of attention as a roadmap to a potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA). But the road towards a UK-India FTA will not be straightforward.
In this, the second of two blogs (first here) on the distinct bilateral characteristics that set the UK-India negotiations apart from the usual trade talks, we examine the strong business-to-business links, important geopolitical factors including vaccine supplies, and the potential for development gains.