US urges India to remove trade barriers

Saturday, 01 May 2004, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The US Friday urged India to remove barriers to trade, including defence products, to regain its place in the top 30 exporting countries of the world. "Despite growth in exports in 2003, India is losing ground in the global marketplace. India no longer figures in the top 30 exporting countries, having been replaced by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $58 billion in exports," US Ambassador David C. Mulford said while addressing the American Chamber of Commerce. India is yet to garner one percent of world trade, being targeted by 2007. Though India has brought down the peak tariff rates, Mulford said they still remained amongst the highest in the world. "This points to the need for stronger and more open global trade partnerships," the envoy said. Defence trade front is an area of "vast commercial opportunity", he said. "India not being part of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is a hindrance," Mulford added. The way forward is for India to "remove potential barriers to military exchanges and increase joint training programmes" to improve understanding, leading to defence procurements and more broader military product sales, the envoy said. As part of the initiative launched to move US-India strategic partnership to a more sustained "next step initiative" for facilitating strategic and high technology partnership, Mulford said it is essential that India further open its market for global trade. "Economic development is closely tied to globalisation," he said, adding that countries that had opened up their markets had seen their trade had grown fivefold in the last one decade. A meeting was hosted last week by the US Treasury under the government-to-government initiative to resurrect the US-India Economic Dialogue, Mulford said. While the meeting was very friendly "it would be more meaningful if we can enlist the participation of the private sector in this important dialogue", he asserted. "Unless you enlist the private sector you will not know the (economic and trade) issues hands on," the envoy said.
Source: IANS
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