Decided to resume discussions, will look to speed up negotiations: Piyush Goyal on proposed India-UK FTA

India and UK have decided to resume talks on a proposed trade agreement, Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, adding that the countries will look to speed up negotiations.Furthermore, the Commerce Minister announced that immigration was not part of any discussions. Goyal was speaking at a joint press conference with Britain's Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who is in India to resume talks which were halted last year ahead of general elections in India. UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Monday said securing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with "vibrant market" India is a top priority for the British government. Ahead of the relaunch of negotiations, stalled by the general election cycles in both countries last year, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said there will be two days of "focussed discussions" in New Delhi."Securing a trade deal with what is soon-to-be the third biggest economy in the world is a no-brainer, and a top priority for me and this government," said Reynolds, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday for the talks.This week marks the first time trade ministers from both countries, Reynolds and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, will formally get their negotiating teams around the table under Britain's Labour Party government elected in July 2024.India and the UK have held 14 rounds of negotiations since January 2022 under the previous Conservative Party government towards an FTA, with an aim to significantly enhance the estimated GBP 41 billion a year bilateral trade partnership.The DBT describes an FTA as a "huge economic prize", with India forecast to have the highest growth rate in the G20 for the next five years and set to become the world's third-biggest economy by 2028.