Britain has set up a trade working group with India to prepare for a future deal following Britain's exit from the European Union, trade minister Liam Fox said on Thursday.

Britain cannot formally agree trade deals with other countries until it has left the EU, a process which will take at least two years from when it kicks off divorce talks. But the government has said it can

do preparatory work.

"There is nothing to stop us having discussions and scoping out future agreements," Fox told parliament.

"We have now concluded a deal to set up a trade working group with India to look at how we will remove barriers to trade before we negotiate a free trade agreement on our exit from the European Union."

Earlier this week, Britain said it had set up a similar group with Australia to "scope out the parameters" of a

future deal and prepare for bilateral negotiations.

Fox said leaving the EU would give Britain greater freedom to strike its own trade agreements, including with some of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies.

He also said that given the EU's trade surplus with Britain, it would be in their interests to maintain "a very open free trading environment" with Britain following its exit from the bloc.