US and India collaborations to focus on infrastructure
In a pioneering announcement or proclamation of sorts, a top official has confirmed that business ties between Indian and US governments would mainly focus on infrastructure.
According to a top official in Washington, there has been substantial ground work with regard to Indo-US business ties especially after the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Barack Obama. Execution is the strategy favoured now with a strong focus on infrastructure as a core component of Indo-US commerce.
According to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service in the US Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, Arun M Kumar, the infrastructure sector is indeed clearly focused on in the joint statement. This was a reference to the statement issued to reporters after the meeting between Obama and Modi on September 30, 2014.
US companies have already been providing positive and stimulating responses according to Kumar. Alongside, Kumar also acknowledged the Indian Government’s move to enhance and improve business environments in the country and talked about loads of areas where more improvements are desirable including the sticky land acquisition topic.
Kumar talked about the new government’s resolve to go ahead with development and issued a statement of willingness with regard to building on the positive vibes generated out of interactions in the last few months after the new government came to power. This has a lot to do with the successful meeting between Obama and Modi according to Kumar who talked about how the US commerce department is ready for engagement and collaborations in infrastructure. Kumar is heading to India after having visited New Delhi with Secretary of State John Kerry and Penny Pritzker, the Commerce Secretary. He feels that US companies may well bring in valuable technology and business practices in the infrastructural segment.
The bilateral trade and business agreement has been scaled up to $500 billion from the present $100 billion by both Modi and Obama and the Commerce Department is expected to play a leading role in achieving this target. Kumar highlighted key action points including simplification of investment areas and ease of getting business done as necessities for this to happen though. The Infrastructure Collaboration Platform’s success is also desired by Kumar as this platform will look at identifying and demarcating necessary infrastructure needs of India by the Ministry of Finance in India and the US Department of Commerce.
The US would also participate in the building of three smart cities in Allahabad, Visakhapatnam and Ajmer apart from plunging into full scale infrastructural development as per the Collaboration Platform’s statutes.
Source:
The Economic Times
Foreign Commercial Service, India, Indo-US commerce, Infrastructure, modi, smart cities in Allahabad
