The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November 2024 to underline the importance of resuming trade negotiations at an early date. 

Today the Republic of India and the United Kingdom have resumed negotiations towards a trade deal between our two countries. This announcement has been made by Minister for Commerce and Industry of India Shri Piyush Goyal and Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom the Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds in Delhi. This announcement is an outcome of the above stated discussions held at the level of Prime Ministers of the two countries. 

India and the United Kingdom have a close partnership, built through collaboration on security and defence, new and emerging technologies, climate, health, education, research and innovation, green finance and people-to-people contacts. At the centre of this relationship is the collective aspiration to deliver economic growth and sustainable development.

Both sides have agreed to resume negotiations towards a balanced, mutually beneficial and a forward-looking deal that delivers mutual growth and builds on the strengths of the two complementary economies. The strengthening of the trading relationship between our two countries has the potential to unlock opportunities for business and consumers across both our nations and build further on our already deep ties.

The two leaders directed the negotiators to work together to resolve the outstanding issues in the agreement to ensure a fair and equitable trade deal for shared success.