Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday met UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan here for the formal launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement.

       Both sides will hold deliberations over an array of trade opportunities of mutual interest, benefiting India and the UK.

       "Met with UK Secretary of State for International Trade @AnnieTrev for the launch of India-UK Free Trade Agreement Negotiations," Goyal said in a tweet.

       This agreement is aimed at liberalising norms and reducing customs duties to boost trade in goods and services, besides promoting investments.

       India's exports to the UK stood at USD 8.15 billion in 2020-21, while imports aggregated at USD 4.95 billion.

       India's main exports to the UK include ready-made garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, petroleum products, transport equipment, spices, pharmaceuticals and marine products.

       Imports from Britain include precious and semi-precious stones, ores and metal scraps, engineering goods, chemicals and machinery.

       In the services sector, the UK is the largest market in Europe for Indian IT services.

       (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)