Post Brexit, we are keen to move forward in trade talks with UK: Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister

In a chat with ET Now, Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister, says need separate FTA with UK and with EU, the negotiations will have to get recalibrated now that UK is out of it.
ET Now: What kind of trade framework can we look at with the UK post Brexit? Did you have discussions with the UK business secretary about that? Nirmala Sitharaman: At this stage it is only an informal discussion. I am grateful that the minister has come and we have agreed to have a proactive engagement and it will first start informally.

The chief negotiators from both sides will be discussing. We shall discuss goods, services, investments and everything and at some point in time going forward we will decide whether we should give a formal framework to it. But the engagement shall be proactive. I am equally keen as the minister is to move forward.

ET Now: You said there will be a different FTA with UK now that it is exiting EU. When can we have those negotiations start? Nirmala Sitharaman: Well this is also part of that, is not it?

ET Now: So you have those featured in the discussion? Nirmala Sitharaman: No it has to be recognised that Brexit has happened. If you are going to have an FTA or a PTA or whatever with UK, it has to be with UK aside from what you are going to have with the EU. With EU, the negotiations will have to get recalibrated now that UK is out of it.

So with EU, we will continue with FTA and with the UK now the minister has come over, and we are grateful that they have made the initial outreach. We are also proactively engaging in this. Any discussion on trade and trade-related matters now at the moment being informal, will have to get formalised some time and then we will decide whether it is a PTA or FTA or whatever.

ET Now: Did the UK business secretary give any word on Make in India? Did they give any commitments? Nirmala Sitharaman: Well not really. We did not speak about Make in India in particular. It was more about engaging with each other at this stage informally about how we are going to go about talking on trade.