Washington, Jan 26
Recognising the importance
of their deepening economic and commercial ties, India and the US have
decided to expand their annual strategic dialogue into a US-India
Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, according to US officials.
The
expanded dialogue would now be jointly led from the US side by
Secretary of State John Kerry and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker
instead of only the former, Pritzker told US reporters accompanying
President Barack Obama Monday.
"Our relationship with India has
been a central component of America's rebalance to Asia," she said
noting both Indian Prime Minister Narendra "Modi and Obama recognise the
importance of deepening the economic and commercial ties".
The
expansion of the strategic dialogue "to mark this moment of renewed
partnership", Pritzker said "establishes a framework that will
strengthen our relationship and create new avenues of cooperation
between our governments, our businesses and our peoples".
"The
new commercial element of our most important bilateral dialogue will
focus on our shared priorities of growing our economies, creating good
jobs, and strengthening our middle class," she said.
The
dialogue, Pritzker said, would be used "to ensure that the United States
and Indian businesses -- small, medium and large -- are in a position
to capitalise on abundant opportunities that exist in both of our
countries".
It would also be used to promote more trade and
investment between the two nations and to identify new opportunities for
economic and commercial cooperation that will improve the lives of
people in both countries, she said.
"And we'll continue to use
this dialogue to address the many strategic and political challenges
that the US and India must face together in the years ahead," Pritzker
said.
Modi and Obama, "share the view that enhancing our
commercial ties is critical to making our long-term vision of a
comprehensive US-India partnership a reality", she said. "And that work
begins today."
The US had also put together the "Infrastructure
Collaboration Platform" by which American companies will get early
awareness of projects India plans to undertake in developing 21st
century infrastructure.
At the behest of Modi, US had also signed
MoUs for three smart cities that will allow planning to begin to
outline the specific opportunities in each of these cities, she said.
"All of these are indicative of a new day in the commercial relationship between India and the United States," Pritzker said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])
