<span style="color: #222222;">Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has met UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan for the launch of India-UK Free Trade Agreement Negotiations. In a tweet, Mr. Goyal said that deliberations will be held over an array of trade opportunities of mutual interest benefiting both sides.<br />''<br />''</span><span style="color: #212529;">India and the UK today launched talks for trade pact. Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal speaking to reporters after meeting UK secretary of state for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan said both the countries hope to conclude talks in a year or so. He said, full-fledged discussion on free trade agreement on a comprehensive economic partnership is truly a very very important milestone in engagement between the two countries.<br />'' <br />''Mr Goyal said India is looking forward to a very multidimensional economic partnership between the two countries particularly when both share vibrant democracies, share rich history and traditional cultural ties over centuries. The minister said, the diverse Indian Diaspora in the UK who are in some sense a living bridge between the two nations add a lot of dynamism to this relationship.<br />'' <br />''Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson in may 2021 had announced India UK enhanced trade partnership Setting an ambitious target to double bilateral trade by 2030 Both the leaders also  agreed on negotiating a comprehensive and balanced free trade agreement including consideration of an Interim trade agreement. Mr Goyal said, today the terms of reference of free trade agreement have been finalised and formally endorsed by both countries.<br />'' <br />''The minister said, cooperation will extend in areas like tourism, technology start-ups education climate change amongst others we looking forward to a very strong partnership a mutually beneficial trade agreement with balanced concessions and market access in a wide range of sectors. The India UK FTA will also contribute in integrating value chains or supply chains between the two countries and augment our mutual efforts to strengthen the resilience of supply chains between the two nations.<br />'' <br />''Both sides held deliberations over an array of trade opportunities of mutual interest, benefiting India and the UK. This agreement is aimed at liberalising norms and reducing customs duties to boost trade in goods and services, besides promoting investments. India's exports to the UK stood at  8.15 billion in 2020-21, while imports aggregated at 4.95 billion US dollar.<br />'' </span><br />''<span style="color: #222222;">India's main exports to the UK include ready-made garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, petroleum products, transport equipment, spices, pharmaceuticals and marine products. Imports from Britain include precious and semi-precious stones, ores and metal scraps, engineering goods, chemicals and machinery. In the services sector, the UK is the largest market in Europe for Indian IT services.</span><br />