India-UK hold 12th Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) in New Delhi

New Delhi [India]: The 12th Round of Ministerial India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue was held in New Delhi on Monday.

The Indian delegation was led by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, and the U.K. delegation was led by Rt. Hon. Mr. Jeremy Hunt, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, U.K, the Ministry of Finance said in an official release.

India and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their commitment to expanding their financial services partnership, building on each other’s strengths and supporting mutual ambitions for financial inclusion and sustainable development.

There was optimism in terms of India’s activities to encourage financial services and investment in GIFT IFSC, as well as the UK’s willingness to support the same.

The meeting also aimed to improve information exchange, cooperation, and assistance between India and the United Kingdom in order to advance infrastructure development priorities, a strong FinTech partnership, and Sustainable Finance in order to achieve long-term growth goals.

According to the official release, both sides also deliberated on enhancing mutual cooperation on macroeconomic and multilateral issues.

The two countries announced the India-UK Infrastructure Finance Bridge, a collaborative initiative to leverage expertise and investment in support of India’s National Infrastructure Pipeline.

The Dialogue culminated with the adoption of a Joint Statement by India’s Union Finance Minister and the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the International Financial Services Centres Authority also attended the meeting, as did representatives from the UK Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority.