The Europe-India Chamber of Commerce (EICC) has joined hands with industry bodies representing the US, Canada and Japan to issue a Brexit plea to the UK to make urgent progress on the issue. The groups also include the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, Canada Europe Roundtable for Business and Japan Business Council in Europe. They represent the interests of an array of international businesses who are heavily invested in both the European Union and the UK and warned that the clock was ticking towards the October deadline for Britain to strike a final withdrawal agreement with the EU.

In the lead up to the European Council summit in Brussels, they have urged policymakers to address issues around governance, regulatory cooperation and post-Brexit preparedness. They say reaching agreement on these issues will provide businesses with more confidence that a withdrawal agreement can be agreed and ratified, thereby providing legal certainty for the proposed transition period and avoiding the worst-case cliff-edge scenario in March 2019. While they recognise the complexity of finding a solution for the Irish border, they say the EU and UK must continue to try to find agreement on the issue that is seen as a stumbling block to an agreement.