The Prime Minister has insisted he will not “sacrifice quality for speed” in his quest to secure a bumper trade deal with India.
Rishi Sunak called it “vital” that the UK strengthens its relationship with the country but stopped short of setting a timeline for an agreement.
He said: “Without question, India is going to be one of the most significant countries geopolitically over the next years and decades, and it’s vitally important for the UK to deepen our ties particularly economically and more broadly with India, so that’s why we’ve been working towards an ambitious and comprehensive free trade deal, but it’s not a given.
“These things are a lot of work and a lot of time. That’s why I’ve never put artificial deadlines on these trade deals.
“I’ve always said we shouldn’t sacrifice quality for speed. And we need to end up with something that works genuinely for both sides.
“Of course, every time I see Prime Minister Modi it’s something we check in at, but that’s not the main purpose of this visit and this trip. There’s lots of other things we’re going to be discussing and work on that is ongoing.”
Mr Sunak and his counterpart in India are set to meet for talks on Saturday at the G20 summit.
London and New Delhi had a £36 billion trading relationship in 2022/23 but Mr Sunak is set to want to finalise an economy-boosting post-Brexit trade agreement with the country that has a population of 1.4 billion people.