His successor Liz Truss made the identical dedication throughout her transient stint as prime minister.
But that unique goal has been missed by virtually a yr and Mr Sunak has been reluctant to set out a timeframe for doing a deal.
Speaking to reporters on his flight from London to the Indian capital, the Conservative Party chief mentioned he didn’t wish to “sacrifice quality for speed”.
He mentioned: “Without question, India is going to be one of the most significant countries geopolitically over the next years and decades, and it is vitally important for the UK to deepen our ties particularly economically and more broadly with India.
“That is why we’ve been working towards an ambitious and comprehensive free trade deal.
“But it is not a given.
“These things are a lot of work and a lot of time.
“That is why I’ve never put artificial deadlines on these trade deals.
“I’ve always said we shouldn’t sacrifice quality for speed.”
Mr Sunak mentioned any new buying and selling phrases with India and its inhabitants of 1.4 billion folks wanted to supply “something that works genuinely for both sides”.
Asked whether or not he would talk about the state of the negotiations with the Indian chief throughout their assembly, the Prime Minister mentioned: “Of course.
“Every time I see prime minister Modi it is something we check in at but that is not the main purpose of this visit and this trip.
“There are lots of other things we’re going to be discussing and work on that is ongoing.”
There has been hypothesis that one of many hold-ups to a commerce pact is India’s push for extra visas to be granted for its folks to work in Britain, a request Home Secretary Suella Braverman reportedly holds issues about.
No 10 on Thursday dominated out any change to UK immigration coverage to accommodate an FTA with New Delhi.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman indicated an growth of enterprise visas would doubtlessly be thought-about.
The Indian authorities can also be mentioned to wish to see the UK log off on a social safety settlement, placing a cease to some momentary Indian staff in Britain successfully having to pay nationwide insurance coverage twice, each within the UK and in India.
The Commonwealth nation already has related agreements with the likes of France and Canada.
Mr Sunak wouldn’t touch upon whether or not Britain might provide a concession on social safety in trade for lowered tariffs on Scottish whisky and British-made vehicles.
“You wouldn’t expect me to comment on the details of our negotiations,” he mentioned.
