India and the United States are gearing up for their first composite Strategic and Commercial Dialogue here next week with a new focus on ways to expand their bilateral trade five-fold to $500 billion.
A high-level Indian delegation comprising External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Energy Minister Piyush Goyal will be arriving in Washington for two-days of intensive talks, beginning September 21.
The deliberations that takes place just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second US visit will be kicked off with a keynote address by Vice President Joe Biden to the 40th annual leadership summit of the US India Business Council.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will lead the American side at the annual dialogue that has been expanded to include the commercial aspect following a decision taken at the time of President Barack Obama’s visit to India last January.
“A lot of events are happening around the strategic dialogue reflecting ongoing activities related to trade and economic co-operation and the potential in this area,” Ambassador Arun K Singh told the Indian media, noting new ways have to be found to realise the projected trade expansion.
At the State Department, spokesman John Kirby said, “It’s a strong relationship; we want to find ways to make it stronger, whether that’s the economic through development programmes, and just increase cooperation on the security front.”
Another senior Obama administration official, speaking in New York, touted the United States as the “best partner” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative.
As the US produces “the best manufacturing exports”, India will have “no better partner” in its push for a global manufacturing hub, Under Secretary of Commerce Stefan Selig told reporters in New York.
The upcoming dialogue will examine how achieving the commercial goals can advance the mutually reinforcing strategic interests of India and the United States, Selig said.
As for the slow progress on the much-talked about Bilateral Investment Treaty, he sought to attribute it in a good measure to India’s slow pace of reforms to improve the ease of doing business. Without these reforms, the likelihood of concluding a BIT would be rather low, Selig commented.
Apart from the USIBC summit, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is hosting a conference on boosting economic ties. Sitharaman and Pritzker along with a host of Indian and American CEOs will discuss the way forward. The India-US CEOs Forum will also have a separate meeting.
Coinciding with the Dialogue, Nasscom is set to release a report on the Indian tech industry’s contributions to the US economy.