Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Focus on economics in upcoming India-U.S. meetings
From The Hindu
The second round of the United States-India Strategic Dialogue is likely to be held in July, according to sources here, including statements by Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs. Additionally, the U.S. Treasury confirmed that the coming U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership will be held during June 27-28.
Speaking at a hearing on Capitol Hill this week, Mr. Blake spoke of the “arc” of U.S.-India relations, noting that the Obama-Singh meeting in Washington in November 2009 had opened a “new chapter” in the bilateral relationship.
Other senior officials confirmed that next month would be the likely window for the talks.
Mr. Blake too said that in July Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to India to pursue with her Indian counterpart the “huge range of bilateral government-to-government activity,” specifically 21 separate sub-dialogues that include trade, defence, visas and innovation.
While trade and investments for innovation have broadly seen a strong upswing in recent years, there are outstanding issues relating to defence and visas that the two sides may seek to iron out.
Although, as Mr. Blake said, U.S. firms obtained almost $8 billion in defence sales in the past four years, including the purchase of 10 Boeing C-17 airlifters, six C-130J aircraft, and eight P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, the U.S. was ruled out during competitive bidding for the purchase of Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft by the Indian Air Force.
The decision, in April, to consider either the European Eurofighter or the French Rafale caught some policymakers here off-guard, raising questions about the extent to which India would continue to deepen its military ties with the U.S.
Thriving ties
Mr. Blake said U.S. visa issuance to Indians was a good indicator of “thriving relations,” and in the last four years, “Indians have received about half of all H1-B visas issued worldwide, and more than 44 per cent of all L-1 intra-company transfer visas.” He noted that 6,50,000 Indians travelled to the U.S. in 2010, an 18 per cent increase over 2009.
However, in this area too there are numerous wrinkles to smooth out, including allegations that some Indian IT companies were misusing H1 and B1 visas. Indian Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is set to arrive in Washington later this month for a series of meetings, reportedly said he planned to take up the matter with the U.S.
Mr. Sharma was quoted as saying: “We have taken this up on more than one occasion with the U.S. government; I had written twice to the U.S. trade representative ambassador Ron Kirk, it should come up in the joint Trade Policy Forum.”
A dominant theme throughout this month's meetings in Washington and next month's talks in New Delhi is likely to be economic links and how they could be strengthened in the light of the ongoing recovery in the U.S.
In this context of particular salience will be the second annual meeting of the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership, which will be hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the Indian side.
The second round of the United States-India Strategic Dialogue is likely to be held in July, according to sources here, including statements by Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs. Additionally, the U.S. Treasury confirmed that the coming U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership will be held during June 27-28.
Speaking at a hearing on Capitol Hill this week, Mr. Blake spoke of the “arc” of U.S.-India relations, noting that the Obama-Singh meeting in Washington in November 2009 had opened a “new chapter” in the bilateral relationship.
Other senior officials confirmed that next month would be the likely window for the talks.
Mr. Blake too said that in July Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to India to pursue with her Indian counterpart the “huge range of bilateral government-to-government activity,” specifically 21 separate sub-dialogues that include trade, defence, visas and innovation.
While trade and investments for innovation have broadly seen a strong upswing in recent years, there are outstanding issues relating to defence and visas that the two sides may seek to iron out.
Although, as Mr. Blake said, U.S. firms obtained almost $8 billion in defence sales in the past four years, including the purchase of 10 Boeing C-17 airlifters, six C-130J aircraft, and eight P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, the U.S. was ruled out during competitive bidding for the purchase of Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft by the Indian Air Force.
The decision, in April, to consider either the European Eurofighter or the French Rafale caught some policymakers here off-guard, raising questions about the extent to which India would continue to deepen its military ties with the U.S.
Thriving ties
Mr. Blake said U.S. visa issuance to Indians was a good indicator of “thriving relations,” and in the last four years, “Indians have received about half of all H1-B visas issued worldwide, and more than 44 per cent of all L-1 intra-company transfer visas.” He noted that 6,50,000 Indians travelled to the U.S. in 2010, an 18 per cent increase over 2009.
However, in this area too there are numerous wrinkles to smooth out, including allegations that some Indian IT companies were misusing H1 and B1 visas. Indian Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is set to arrive in Washington later this month for a series of meetings, reportedly said he planned to take up the matter with the U.S.
Mr. Sharma was quoted as saying: “We have taken this up on more than one occasion with the U.S. government; I had written twice to the U.S. trade representative ambassador Ron Kirk, it should come up in the joint Trade Policy Forum.”
A dominant theme throughout this month's meetings in Washington and next month's talks in New Delhi is likely to be economic links and how they could be strengthened in the light of the ongoing recovery in the U.S.
In this context of particular salience will be the second annual meeting of the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership, which will be hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the Indian side.
Labels: India-US relations, Robert Blake, United States-India Strategic Dialogue
# posted by Narayan Lakshman @ 12:24 PM 
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