India and the US on Wednesday vowed to expand economic relation between the two nations and explore new opportunities to break down barriers to facilitate movement of goods and services. The leaders of the two countries resolved to pursue US-India Totalisation Agreement and enhance engagement on intellectual property rights with a view to promote innovation and creativity.
“In order to substantially increase bilateral trade, they (leaders) pledged to explore new opportunities to break down barriers to the movement of goods and services, and support deeper integration into global supply chains, thereby creating jobs and generating prosperity in both economies,” said the joint statement issued after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama.
They look forward to the second annual Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in India later this year to identify concrete steps in this regard, it added.
Highlighting the strong and expanding economic relations between the US and India, the leaders committed to support sustainable, inclusive, and robust economic growth, and common efforts to stimulate consumer demand, job creation, skill development and innovation. It was decided to continue discussion later this year on the US-India Totalisation Agreement. The ‘Totalisation Agreement’ seeks to do away with double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes.