India And US Hope To Double Bilateral Trade In 3 Years

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

05 June 2006

Representatives from the governments of the United States and India have been holding discussions on tariff and non tariff barriers to trade and investment with a view to doubling bilateral trade in the next three years.

The fourth meeting of the US India Trade Policy Forum was held on 30th May 2006 in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by Ambassador Karan Bhatia, Deputy United States Trade Representative (DUSTR) and Shri S.N. Menon, Commerce Secretary.

The agenda included discussions on Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers; Agriculture; Investment; Services and Intellectual Property Rights.

The discussions were said by the Office of the US Trade Representative to have been conducted in "a spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding," and both sides have developed an action plan to move forward to a higher level of bilateral economic engagement in preparation for the forthcoming visit of Minister Nath to the US.

In addition, Ambassador Bhatia met Shri Kamal Nath, Commerce & Industry Minister on 29th May 2006, where they reviewed the present level of bilateral trade. Both acknowledged that the present level of bilateral trade is far below potential and renewed the commitment to work towards achieving the target of doubling trade (to approximately US$60 billion) in three years.

The US-India Trade Policy Forum is an institutional arrangement between the two governments to discuss trade and investment issues. The Trade Policy Forum was launched during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to the US in July 2005.

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