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India, Britain hold talks on forging new trading ties, post-Brexit

Xinhua, April 5, 2017 Adjust font size:

India and Britain held delegation-level talks in the national capital on Tuesday, aimed at forging new trading ties as the latter prepares to exit from the European Union.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met visiting British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond at Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) and pledged to work together to strengthen their existing economic partnership in order to further boost trade and investment.

"We welcome the strength of the economic outlook for both countries. While economic confidence has increased and global growth is forecast to rise in 2017, we recognise that political risk and policy uncertainty in some parts of the world remain heightened and share concerns around policy space to respond to future shocks," the two ministers said in a statement.

It added "The Britain and India agree that globalisation has had positive impact on the world, and remain strong advocates for free markets and free trade. Both sides commit to work together to strengthen our cooperation in the G20, IMF, World Bank and other multilateral bodies to that end."

Both the finance ministers said that the two countries "share a common commitment to addressing cross-border tax evasion and avoidance and agree to collaborate in determining the status of wealth deposited in foreign financial accounts by nationals of both countries. We look forward to enhanced cooperation in this area".

Later addressing a joint media meet, the British Chancellor played down the risks of "hard Brexit". "We have made the decision that we will not be part of the structure of the European Union, but we've also made very clear that we want to negotiate the maximum possible open trade relationship with the European Union," Hammond said.

The British Chancellor's visit is part of the annual UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue and his delegation includes some of the country's most experienced leaders in financial services and some of Britain's most exciting FinTech entrepreneurs.

His high-level business delegation includes Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, Commercial Secretary Baroness Neville-Rolfe and International Trade Minister Mark Garnier. Endit