New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed a great emphasis on improving trade and economic relations with the United States in his first-ever in-person meeting with President Joe Biden.
President Biden greeted Prime Minister Modi on Friday, at the White House. Instead of the intended 60 minutes, the meeting between the two leaders in the Oval Office stretched more than 90 minutes. The Prime Minister placed a great emphasis on increasing trade and economic partnerships.
Here, the two leaders felt compelled to ask their respective ministers – India’s Commerce and Industry Minister in the case of India, and the United States Trade Representative in the case of the United States – to look into how to infuse more dynamism into the bilateral trade relationship. Also, a discussion on how to quickly implement some of the decisions that could result in further accelerating trade ties between the two countries was also taken up. A discussion of the TRIPS paper was also held.
The US is also looking forward to the next meeting of the US-India Commercial Dialogue and CEO Forum, which will help to strengthen business and commercial connections between the two countries. The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has a portfolio in India worth about USD 2.5 billion as of 2021, with projects in renewable energy, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, private equity, housing, and insurance among them. Over the upcoming fiscal year, an extra USD 900 million in new projects are projected.
During the discussion, the prime minister envisioned a decade of partnership transformation in the US-India relationship, which he characterised as a focus on tradition, technology, trade, trusteeship, and talent, according to Shringla.
