British PM Keir Starmer's India Visit on October 8-9, What's on Agenda

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Delhi: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be on India tour, his first since assuming office as PM, from October 8 to 9, the External Affairs Ministry informed on Saturday.According to the MEA, PM Modi and his counterpart Keir Starmer will be in Mumbai on October 9 to take stock of progress in diverse aspects of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in line with 'Vision 2035'.Vision 2035 is a 10-year time-bound partnership programme between India and the UK focused on trade and investment, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate and energy, health, education, and people-to-people relations.

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What's on Agenda during Keir Starmer's India visit

• PM Modi and Keir Starmer will engage with businesses and industry leaders on opportunities presented by the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), seen as a central pillar of the future India-UK economic partnership.
• The two leaders will hold discussions on issues of regional and global importance.
• They will also attend the 6th edition of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai and deliver keynote addresses.
• The two will further engage with industry experts, policymakers, and innovators.

Starmer's Visit After India-UK Historic FTA

Keir Starmer's visit comes on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who travelled to the UK in July this year when the two leaders signed the India-UK FTA, providing greater access to goods and services between the two countries.

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The agreement was formalised in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and was officially signed by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, and the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying said in a release.The trade agreement offers zero-duty access on 99 per cent of tariff lines and opens up key service sectors.Notably, for the marine sector, the agreement eliminates import tariffs on a wide range of seafood products, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of Indian exporters in the UK market.This is expected to particularly benefit exports of shrimp, frozen fish, and value-added marine products, thereby boosting India's presence in one of its major seafood destinations, alongside labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather, and gems and jewellery.

India's key seafood exports to the UK currently include Vannamei shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), frozen squid, lobsters, frozen pomfret, and black tiger shrimp—all of which are expected to gain further market share under CETA's duty-free access.Under the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), all fish and fisheries commodities falling under the UK tariff schedule categories marked 'A' now enjoy 100 per cent duty-free access from the date of entry into force of the agreement.With inputs from ANI