India seeks WTO help to prevent outsourcing bans

By agencies   |   Thursday, 02 June 2005, 19:30 IST
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WASHINGTON:India has sought a new world trade pact that would prevent the U.S. and other countries from banning companies from outsourcing jobs, Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. Proposals in the U.S. Congress in recent months to ban outsourcing have sent off "alarm bells" in New Delhi, Nath said. To prevent those from becoming law, India has asked the U.S. to lock in current U.S. legislation allowing companies to move jobs offshore as part of any new world trade agreement, he said. "We are very concerned with the U.S. binding the current situation because all these noises just keep coming," Nath said at the U.S. India Business Council. "(The issue) needs to be once and for all put behind us." Concerns about outsourcing are based more "on emotions than economics," Nath said. Both countries benefit when U.S. companies can lower their costs by tapping India's plentiful, well-educated work force, he said. On Tuesday, the U.S. submitted a amended offer in World Trade Organization service negotiations that will lock in the current access that foreign financial services companies have in the U.S. market and expand access for foreign firms in areas such as telecommunications, computer and related services, higher education and transportation. Nath said he had not yet seen the latest U.S. offer, but said the U.S. would need to provide more short term visas for business travelers as part of a new world trade pact. "I'm not talking immigration," but business visits of less than a year to work on company projects, Nath said. The issue is a sensitive one for the United States because many lawmakers view work visas as a back-door immigration channel and strongly oppose including any U.S. commitments to increase them as part of trade pacts.