Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2514 466 3797
Password: trade

Certificate of Participants

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Abstract

The Indo-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) marks a significant milestone in strengthening economic and strategic relations between India and the United Kingdom. By reducing trade barriers, enhancing market access, and promoting investment, the agreement is expected to boost exports, create employment, and foster innovation across sectors such as manufacturing, services, technology, and agriculture. This webinar will examine the opportunities and challenges arising from the FTA, its implications for Indian businesses, MSMEs, and policymakers, and its role in advancing India's global trade ambitions.

Short Bio

Amb. Manjeev Puri

Manjeev Singh Puri is presently Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow with the Ananta Centre. He is a former Indian Ambassador. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982 and served as Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg (2013-2017) and Nepal (2017-2019). He has also served as Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN from 2009-2012, a period during which India was on the Security Council. Prior to that, from 2005-2009, he headed the division in the Ministry of External Affairs dealing with UN issues on the social and economic side. In addition, he has served twice in Germany (in Bonn and Berlin), in Cape Town, Muscat, Bangkok and Caracas. He retired on 31 December 2019 in the rank of Secretary, Government of India.

Major areas of his experience relate to multilateralism (UN), Europe and Nepal and he was involved as a lead member of the Indian delegation at numerous global negotiations on, migration, human rights and UN reforms. His professional focus has been on issues relating to the environment, climate change and sustainable development. He was a lead negotiator for India at the UN on issues relating to the post 2015 development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals and at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was a key member of India's delegation at various Climate Change negotiations, including the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December 2009 and before that at Montreal, Bali, Bonn and Poznan. Furthermore, he was involved with India's participation in the G8-G5 Summits from 2005 and was the point-person for the Major Economies Forum.

Prof. Gulshan Sachdeva

Gulshan Sachdeva is Professor and Jean Monnet Chair at the Centre for European Studies, JNU. His work focuses on European economic integration, Eurasian connectivity, development cooperation, energy security, and India’s external economic engagements. He serves as Book Series Editor for Europe–Asia Connectivity and Co-Editor of the Asia–Europe Journal. He has held key administrative and academic roles, including Chief Coordinator of DAKSHIN – Global South Centre of Excellence at RIS; Coordinator of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence; Head of ADB and Asia Foundation regional cooperation projects at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan; Consultant with the ILO; Chairperson of the Centre for European Studies; and Director of the Energy Studies Programme. He has taught at KU Leuven as the ICCR Chair and has served as visiting faculty at nine European universities. He has published more than 120 research papers/book chapters and holds a PhD in Economics from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.

Prof. Abhijit Das

Prof. Abhijit Das is the Former Head of the Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. He has more than two decades of experience in international trade in various capacities, including five years in the Government of India. He has participated directly in many multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations, including the Doha Round at the WTO and OECD Steel Subsidy negotiations. He worked in UNCTAD India Programme during 2005-10 and headed this prestigious UN project for three years. He is a regular commentator in the media on issues related to WTO and international trade. At the invitation of international organisations and governments, he has been a speaker on WTO issues in more than 20 countries. His current research interests include agriculture, electronic commerce, global value chains and negotiating strategies.

Prof. Dibyendu Maiti

Dibyendu Maiti is a Senior Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. He specialises in development macroeconomics and international economics, focusing on labour, technology, and the informal sector. Before this, he worked at the University of the South Pacific, Institute of Economic Growth Delhi, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta as well as held various research positions at the University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, Max Planck Institute of Economics (Jena), Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, University of Oslo. He received the Max-Planck India Fellowship, ICSSR-ESRC exchange and ICSSR-CASS exchange fellowship. He publishes research articles in reputed journals, like Journal of Development Economics, Social Research Indicators, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Labour Economics, Economic Modelling, International Review of Economics and Finance, Cambridge Journal of Economics, American Behavioural Scientists etc. Recently, he published a book named Digitalisation and Development – India and beyond. He is an associate editor of Progress in Development Studies (Sage). He received the IDRC Young India Social Sciences Award, 2010 and Global Development Network Award, 2009.