New UK government announces plans to resume free trade agreement talks with Israel

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Britain's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Jonathan Reynolds leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 9, 2024. (Justin Tallis/AFP)
Britain's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Jonathan Reynolds leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 9, 2024. (Justin Tallis/AFP)

The new Labour government in the United Kingdom announces its intention to resume free trade agreement talks with Israel.

UK’s Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, announces that he will pursue trade talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.

“This announcement will kickstart the process of getting negotiators back into the room with counterparts as soon as possible, with the first round of trade talks under the new government expected to take place during the Autumn,” says the Department for Business and Trade.

The fourth round of FTA negotiations between the UK and Israel were held virtually in February under Rishi Sunak’s Tory government.

“The UK will maintain its long-standing foreign policy positions in this FTA, including with respect to the internationally recognised borders of Israel; and will continue to exclude illegal settlements to ensure nothing in this FTA undermines the viability of a two-state solution,” the Minister for Trade Policy wrote at the time.

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