New Delhi: The committee of secretaries (CoS) met on Thursday to work out some problems with the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) before the deal is officially signed next month, according to someone who knows about the situation.

As the two countries get closer to making the deal, they have been talking a lot about the parts that they dont agree on, like intellectual property rights (IPR), rules of origin, and bilateral investment treaties (BIT).

The committee of secretaries meets as the two parties begin weekly negotiations. New Delhi is trying to finalize the contract, which involves inter-ministerial commitments from the finance and food processing ministries.

Trade between the countries increased from $17.5 billion in 2021-22 to $20.36 billion in 2022-23. Ready-made clothes and textiles, gems and jewelry, engineering items, petroleum and petrochemical products, transport equipment, spices, machinery and instruments, pharmaceuticals, and marine products are India principal exports.

British goods that are exported include precious and semiprecious stones, ores and metal scraps, engineering goods, chemicals, machinery, and professional tools that are not electronics.

India largest European IT services market is the UK. UK investors are also prominent in India. UK foreign direct investment in India rose to $1.74 billion in 2022-23 from $1 billion in 2021-22.

Investments reached $33.9 billion between April 2000 and March 2023. Such pacts decrease or abolish customs charges on a variety of items exchanged between two trading partners and ease norms to stimulate trade in services and investments.