India-UK Free Trade Agreement should progress: David Cameron.

KOLKATA: British Prime Minister David Cameron today said the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the UK needs to progress.

"India-UK FTA is getting around for a long time and we need to progress on that front," Cameron said in reply to a query on India-UK trade at an interactive session with IIM Calcutta students here.

He said that India and UK have been investing in each other's countries. "The JLR (Tata Motors' acquisition of the British iconic brand) is the biggest success story where an Indian investment has been so encouraging.

"More capital flows will lead to greater trade flows between the two countries," he noted.

"What is important is that trade barriers should be reduced and that will help," he said.

He said that economic openness by both the countries should help in generating wealth.

"It is not a zero-sum game. India's gain is not Britain's loss. There is a need to reduce tariffs."

He also said that besides material trade, there was a lot of wealth in human capital. "These included universities, healthcare, banking and insurance."

In this context, he said that there was a limit on the number of students going from India to study in British universities.

But there was no limit for Indian graduates to get jobs in Britain, he said.

"There has to be a link between political openness and economic openness. Even if a country does not have oil, gas and ineral wealth, it does not matter. It is important what institutions we create and what policies we put in place," he added.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com