'Obama Admin To Focus Next 2 Yrs On India-US Trade Ties'

WASHINGTON: Over the next two years, the Obama Administration would focus significantly on India-U.S. economic and financial partnership and support the reform effort of the Indian government, a U.S. official has said.

Describing this as "a win-win" proposition, the official said, the partnership would also encourage greater opening of India's economy to U.S. firms and improving the climate for U.S. investment in the country.

"Over the next two years, we plan to focus significant attention on the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership - the U.S. Treasury's main vehicle to engage on economic issues with India.

"Through this Partnership, we will support India in its growth and reform efforts and encourage the greater opening of India's economy to U.S. firms," Treasury Undersecretary Nathan Sheets said.

"This is, again, a "win-win" proposition," Sheets said.

"We can create new growth and employment opportunities in the United States by further opening this growing market for U.S. exports, improving the climate for US investment in India, and levelling the playing field for U.S. companies," he said.

"For India, faster growth, deeper financial markets, and greater openness to trade and foreign investment promise to raise incomes, reduce poverty, and bring many more Indians into the global middle class," he added.

The top Treasury official said the U.S. has an important window of opportunity to deepen its economic engagement with India.

"India and its people share with the United States an entrepreneurial spirit, a commitment to a vibrant private sector, and a record of economic growth built largely on domestic demand," Sheets said.

He said one of the top priority of the Obama Administration is engagement with the world economy's emerging giants, notably China and India in Asia, as well as Mexico and Brazil in Latin America.

"We are committed over the next two years to finding ways to continue to strengthen our bilateral relationship with China - such as by advancing negotiations on a high-standard bilateral investment treaty - and to work together in multilateral settings," he said.

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