UK's exit from EU not to hit Indian investments

NEW DELHI: The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union will not cast any adverse impact on trade commitments, investments and trade facilitation on Indian investments in the 28-nation bloc, a top EU official said Friday.

Addressing a conference here, Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the EU to India, also said trade between India and the European Union could grow manifold with the early conclusion of a free trade pact and investment protection agreement well in time.

According to him, enhanced trade facilitation and lower tariffs between India and EU have the potential to boost bilateral trade from USD 141 billion in 2017-18 to USD 200 billion by 2022, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) said in a release.

"UK exiting EU will hardly make any adverse impact on trade commitments, investments and trade facilitation on Indian investments in the EU," Kozlowski said at the PHDCCI event.

Prime Minister Theresa May Friday wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk seeking a further extension to the UK's Brexit deadline until June 30 to try and find a solution in Parliament to the current impasse over the terms of Britain's exit from the 28-member economic bloc.

Under the current terms agreed with the European Union, the UK is due to leave the bloc by May 22 if the British Prime Minister's repeatedly-rejected divorce bill clears the House of Commons or crash out without any deal in place by April 12.

India enjoys robust relations with both EU and UK, in this scenario, Brexit is unlikely to make any adverse impact on India's economic and trade relations with the two, said Dr Anju Kumar, Joint Secretary (Central Europe), Ministry of External Affairs.

Trade facilitation measures along with trade reforms for goods and services coming to India from EU should be promoted to make sure that its Make-in-India slogan evolves for Make for World also, Kozlowski said.

He opined that India and EU should work in close partnership for emerging and rule-based global economic order with the spirit of multilateralism in various fora and particularly so in G-20 and World Trade Organization (WTO) to reshape and rebuild the emerging global economic order.