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Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy has arrived in India for talks with ministers and business leaders.<\/p>\n
The visit is being billed as an attempt to reset Britain’s relationship with the country and the Global South.<\/p>\n
Mr Lammy has called India \u201can indispensable partner\u201d in the government\u2019s efforts to grow the economy and tackle climate change. <\/p>\n
With the country’s economy soon to be the third largest in the world, the new Labour government is eager to secure a free trade agreement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Just three week’s old, Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has set its sight on India early. If Labour wants growth, British firms will need to do more business in the country. <\/p>\n
Talks about a free trade agreement with India have been stalled for months, following negotiations over the last two years.<\/p>\n
In March, India signed a free trade agreement<\/a> with Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, which are all non-European Union states.<\/p>\n The foreign secretary said reinforcing the UK\u2019s commitment to secure a deal would be a floor, not a ceiling, to Britain\u2019s ambitions. <\/p>\n Last year, sources from the former Conservative government said trade talks with India were reaching their “final but trickier”<\/a> stages.<\/p>\n A trade deal with India has long been seen in government as one of the biggest prizes of all deals the UK could strike with other nations following Brexit.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Mr Lammy’s first foreign trip as a cabinet member saw him meeting with various European leaders<\/a> across the continent in an effort to improve relations between the UK and the EU.<\/p>\n But this latest trip is about more than economics. <\/p>\n India sees itself as a key player in the Global South and Mr Lammy said he wanted to reset Britain\u2019s relations with these developing countries. <\/p>\n With political instability in Europe and the US, the government is looking to improve relations with other allies and that includes a country Mr Lammy calls the emerging superpower of the 21st century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n