Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit this month-end, a key American Senator has lauded the progress made on a set of priorities to lift bilateral partnership in the first 100 days of the Modi Government.
“I am pleased to see the US and Indian leadership work together to make progress on concrete deliverables during these first 100 days,” said Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic co-chair of the bipartisan Senate India Caucus. “By demonstrating that we can move beyond talk and actually get things done, we can provide new energy and important momentum to set the stage for PM Modi’s visit to the US later this month.”
Apart from the holding of the high-power US-India Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi, Warner referred to the welcome features in the first budget of the new government, raising FDI from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in several sectors including defence and insurance.In his statement, the Senator from Virginia said he was pleased that both Governments have made progress on seven of his recommended priorities to improve and energise the bilateral relationship.
Among other things, he referred to India’s recent move to drop plans by the UPA Government to impose an anti-dumping duty of between 11 to 81 cents per watt on solar panel imports from the US, China, Taiwan and Malaysia.