AGL 39.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-0.73%)
AIRLINK 128.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.74 (-0.57%)
BOP 6.74 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.9%)
CNERGY 4.47 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-3.46%)
DCL 8.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-3.8%)
DFML 40.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.85%)
DGKC 80.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.27 (-3.9%)
FCCL 32.81 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.12%)
FFBL 74.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.07 (-1.42%)
FFL 11.69 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (1.92%)
HUBC 109.10 Decreased By ▼ -1.45 (-1.31%)
HUMNL 13.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.71 (-4.88%)
KEL 5.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.3%)
KOSM 7.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-6.55%)
MLCF 38.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-2.36%)
NBP 63.10 Increased By ▲ 2.81 (4.66%)
OGDC 195.40 Decreased By ▼ -4.26 (-2.13%)
PAEL 25.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.85 (-3.19%)
PIBTL 7.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-3%)
PPL 155.50 Decreased By ▼ -2.42 (-1.53%)
PRL 25.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.93 (-3.48%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 78.80 Decreased By ▼ -3.64 (-4.42%)
TELE 7.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-5.66%)
TOMCL 33.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-2.2%)
TPLP 8.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.71 (-7.84%)
TREET 16.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.07 (-6.12%)
TRG 57.64 Decreased By ▼ -3.68 (-6%)
UNITY 27.45 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.07%)
WTL 1.38 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 10,471 Increased By 64.6 (0.62%)
BR30 31,190 Decreased By -523.8 (-1.65%)
KSE100 97,756 Increased By 427.4 (0.44%)
KSE30 30,419 Increased By 226.2 (0.75%)

LONDON: The UK will not “sacrifice quality for speed” in agreeing post-Brexit free-trade deals, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday, as he looks to ink accords with India and the United States.

The UK is keen to capitalise on Brexit to strike international deals and under Boris Johnson trumpeted a slew of agreements with countries outside the European Union.

But former environment minister George Eustice this week said the country’s deal with Australia, struck last year by Sunak’s short-lived predecessor Liz Truss, “gave away far too much for far too little in return”.

He also said that Truss, who was trade minister at the time, had set “arbitrary targets” for concluding a deal.

Sunak told MPs on Thursday that he would only agree deals if he felt they were worthwhile, having discussed the issue with world leaders at this week’s G20 summit in Bali.

“I met (Indian) Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, where we reviewed progress on our forthcoming FTA (free trade agreement),” Sunak told the House of Commons.

India’s Modi and Britain’s Sunak meet at G20, discuss ways to boost trade

He said he had also discussed Britain’s accession to the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) with the prime ministers of Japan, Canada and Australia.

“When it comes to trade deals, whoever they may be with, what I won’t do is sacrifice quality for speed,” Sunak said.

“It is important that we take the time to get trade deals right,” he added.

However, Sunak did say that “there was incredible excitement” among CPTPP leaders about the UK potentially joining, and that “we will continue to conclude those negotiations as quickly as possible.”

Britain formally applied to join CPTPP, whose 11 members account for 13.4 percent of global GDP, last year.

Talks are ongoing with India over a bilateral deal, although there is some dissent within the UK government about how many visas London will offer Indian nationals as part of the agreement.

But prospects of an imminent deal with the United States appear to be non-existent given the current political situation in Washington, with the UK instead focusing on deals with individual US states.

Comments

Comments are closed.