Keir Starmer said he wants the UK’s free trade agreement with India implemented “as soon as humanly possible,” as the British prime minister received a warm welcome on his first visit to the South Asian nation since taking office.
Speaking to business delegates from the grand staircase of Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Wednesday in Mumbai, Starmer said he has instructed his team to move quickly on the deal signed earlier this year.
Starmer and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had finalized a free-trade agreement in July after three years of intense negotiations. The UK premier is in India this week, leading a delegation of more than 100 British business, academic, and cultural leaders to deepen commercial ties between the two countries.
“Our job is to make it easier for you to seize the opportunities,” Starmer told the business delegates. “On the plane home, I want each of you to tell me what you got out of this trip – a deal, a contact.”
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The British leader’s arrival was met with welcome messages across Mumbai, the seaside megacity that is India’s business and financial capital. Hundreds of billboards and posters with Starmer’s face dotted the city, including some showing the British leader standing alongside Modi and praising the close ties between the two nations.
Starmer said the signing of the FTA is already boosting trade between the two nations. He closed his address at the hotel by taking a selfie with the gathered delegates with a disposable camera. The visit also comes a day after British Airways Plc announced plans to start a third daily flight between Heathrow Airport and New Delhi.
Later in the day, Starmer visited Yash Raj Films, one of India’s leading production and distribution houses, and announced that the studio would shoot in the UK from next year. “Bollywood is back in Britain, and it’s bringing jobs, investment and opportunity,” he said in statement. “This is exactly the kind of partnership our trade deal with India is destined to unlock.”