British leader Keir Starmer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to sign a hard-wrought trade agreement Thursday that will slash tariffs on products including Scotch whisky and English gin shipped to India and Indian food and spices sent to the U.K.

The two prime ministers are due to hold a signing ceremony at Chequers, the British leader’s country residence outside London.

The trade agreement between India and Britain, the world’s fifth- and sixth-largest economies, was announced in May, more than three years after negotiations started, and stalled, under Britain’s previous Conservative government.

The U.K. government said the deal will reduce India’s average tariff on British goods from 15% to 3%. Whisky and gin tariffs will be halved from 150% to 75% before falling to 40% by year 10 of the deal. Automotive tariffs will fall from over 100% to 10% under a quota.

Britain said the deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds ($35 billion) annually from 2040 and add almost 5 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) a year to the British economy.

Starmer said the agreement was “a major win for Britain” and would create thousands of jobs.

India’s Trade Ministry said in May that 99% of Indian exports would face no import duty under the deal, which applies to products including clothes, shoes and food.

Formal talks began in 2022 on a free trade agreement that then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed as a key goal after Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2020. Johnson famously promised to have a deal done by the Diwali holiday in October of that year.

The two countries held 13 rounds of negotiations without a breakthrough before talks were suspended while both nations held general elections in 2024.

Modi was re-elected and Britain replaced the Conservative government with one led by Starmer’s center-left Labour Party.

—AP