After President Barack Obama’s successful India visit, the United States should now actively help New Delhi secure the membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, says noted South Asia specialist Alyssa Ayres.
“Washington should respond by hustling to secure India’s membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and by developing a path for Indian membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a move that could potentially increase trade between the two nations,” says Ayres, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Noting that the US has ended its silence on the subject with President Obama “welcoming India’s interest in joining” APEC, Ayres believes it is ow time for Washington to “get moving to convince all the other APEC members to back India before the annual summit in November”.
“By doing so, India would join the US, China and 19 other nations in crafting action plans to reduce trade barriers. It’s a low risk gamble on India’s growth and importance to the Asia-Pacific economy,” she writes in the Fortune magazine.
lauding the resolution of the civil nuclear logjam, Ayres goes on to say that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Washington has at last found a PM prepared to transform India’s economic relationship with America and officials should seize the chance to work with a leader focused on economic reform and trade”.
“Unlike before, the US may finally have found a partner in India who is able to convince his party and the opposition to enact long-delayed reforms that will benefit India and make it easier to do business in the world’s largest democracy,” says Ayres, urging Obama to accord trade and economics a much higher priority in US-India relations.
A former State Department official, Ayres also believes that the US should welcome India to negotiations for joining TPP at a time when New Delhi is participating in an alternative Asian trade negotiation, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement promoted by China that also includes seven TPP participants.
Washington’s strategy to further ties with Asia cannot be complete without more closely integrating US markets with the $2 trillion economy that India is, says Ayres, noting that Modi, in return for Indian membership of TPP, would need to pledge more openness to US trade and investment.
Senator Mark Warner, Democratic co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, also highlighted the fact that “for the first time, the US has clearly expressed support for bringing India into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum”.