 "Best of BS Opinion: Standards on trade, efficient movement and more")
News reports suggest that India and the United Kingdom (UK) will resume negotiations on the free-trade agreement early next year. Both countries have been negotiating to arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement since 2022. Several issues will need to be addressed on both sides. India, for instance, expects increased mobility for its skilled labour force. The UK, which has a strong services sector, also wants better access to Indian markets besides lower tariffs on a range of goods. However, the bigger impediments could be issues like environment and labour standards, which are said to be high on the UK’s agenda, notes our lead editorial. Read here
In other views
The evolving geopolitical context of much-reduced institutional economic support from the US and given the limitations of Japanese economic leadership potential, Asean may well face a predicament of increased linkages with China, even when that implicitly implies heightened vulnerabilities, writes Amita Batra. Read here
Viksit Bharat is a welcome citizen-oriented vision that hopefully repositions our discourse about ourselves beyond the competitive chest-thumping of world rankings that has been in vogue in government and business these past few years, writes Rama Bijapurkar. Read here
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“"Shiv Sena will fully support BJP’s decision to name the next Maharashtra CM. There is no speed breaker from our side.”
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde