Thursday, February 03, 2011
Flurry of U.S-India meetings in the offing
From The Hindu
There will be a spate of meetings between top officials of the United States and Indian governments over the next few months, including visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, according to official sources here.
The recent trip to India by Jane Lute, Deputy Secretary of the DHS, between January 11-12, helped lay the ground for a visit by Ms. Napolitano “sometime in April,” a senior Indian diplomat here said.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is expected to visit Washington around February 13-15.
During her visit, Ms. Rao will consult with her U.S. counterpart William Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and also with Eric Hirschhorn, Under Secretary of Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), who is taking the lead on the matter of relaxation of export control restrictions vis-á-vis bilateral high-technology trade.
The meeting with Commerce Department officials would follow the U.S.' January 21-issuance of an export control notification removing organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation and Bharat Dynamics Limited from the BIS' Entity List.
Diplomatic sources here said that some export controls which were retained as of now could follow suit, as there were still “some actions [pending] on [the Indian] side regarding provision of assurances on re-export.” However, such assurances are regularly provided by the Indian government when appropriate. During the first few weeks of March, top military officials from both sides will meet their counterparts, following which, Ms. Clinton will travel to India to take forward the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue.
'Full agenda'
An Indian diplomat here said that there was a “very full agenda” on the bilateral side between now and April.
On the trade front, said officials, revised bilateral trade data suggested that the trade in goods rose by 30 per cent in 2010, following a dip in 2009. Also the trade in services, in 2008, between India and the U.S., had been revised upward from $22 billion to $38 billion.
Of this, a little over $18 billion was comprised exports from India, while nearly $20 billion represented U.S. exports to India, officials confirmed, suggesting that “data shows that bilateral trade is broadly balanced.”
The key bilateral policy initiatives that will be considered in the coming months include a monsoon modelling cooperation initiative that will be housed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency, sources said.
There was also an intention to take the civil nuclear cooperation agreement forward during the visit of Mr. Locke, who would be accompanied by representatives of U.S. nuclear companies. Discussions in this space would further touch upon the plan to develop a Global Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Energy.
There will be a spate of meetings between top officials of the United States and Indian governments over the next few months, including visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, according to official sources here.
The recent trip to India by Jane Lute, Deputy Secretary of the DHS, between January 11-12, helped lay the ground for a visit by Ms. Napolitano “sometime in April,” a senior Indian diplomat here said.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is expected to visit Washington around February 13-15.
During her visit, Ms. Rao will consult with her U.S. counterpart William Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and also with Eric Hirschhorn, Under Secretary of Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), who is taking the lead on the matter of relaxation of export control restrictions vis-á-vis bilateral high-technology trade.
The meeting with Commerce Department officials would follow the U.S.' January 21-issuance of an export control notification removing organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation and Bharat Dynamics Limited from the BIS' Entity List.
Diplomatic sources here said that some export controls which were retained as of now could follow suit, as there were still “some actions [pending] on [the Indian] side regarding provision of assurances on re-export.” However, such assurances are regularly provided by the Indian government when appropriate. During the first few weeks of March, top military officials from both sides will meet their counterparts, following which, Ms. Clinton will travel to India to take forward the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue.
'Full agenda'
An Indian diplomat here said that there was a “very full agenda” on the bilateral side between now and April.
On the trade front, said officials, revised bilateral trade data suggested that the trade in goods rose by 30 per cent in 2010, following a dip in 2009. Also the trade in services, in 2008, between India and the U.S., had been revised upward from $22 billion to $38 billion.
Of this, a little over $18 billion was comprised exports from India, while nearly $20 billion represented U.S. exports to India, officials confirmed, suggesting that “data shows that bilateral trade is broadly balanced.”
The key bilateral policy initiatives that will be considered in the coming months include a monsoon modelling cooperation initiative that will be housed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency, sources said.
There was also an intention to take the civil nuclear cooperation agreement forward during the visit of Mr. Locke, who would be accompanied by representatives of U.S. nuclear companies. Discussions in this space would further touch upon the plan to develop a Global Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Energy.
Labels: India-US ties
# posted by Narayan Lakshman @ 7:59 AM 
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