U.S. Government Departments Told To Identify Areas to Take Up With India

"Most important from my perspective is make sure that all of our Cabinet officers are meeting all of their Indian counterparts and develop good relationship. Without good relationship, good bureaucratic relationships, how can you achieve things that you are trying to achieve things together," the official said, requesting anonymity. The U.S. government is going to engage with the new Indian government as it has done in the past, irrespective of the individuals or the ruling party, the official said.

The relationship transcends political parties, transcends personalities. Our work is with the government, people and country of India. "Ultimately, the national interest remains the same. Personalities may change, little bit of flavour here and there. But the national interest remains the same. I think that is true at the Indian side as well," the official added. Noting that it is for the Indian government to make its own decision about what it needs to do to take its economy forward, the official said the American private sector has made its views clear that it would like to see greater opening in the defence field, in retail, in agriculture, in financial system.

"But these are decisions for the Indian government to make. We will certainly advocate the views of our companies, but I think in terms of government-to-government actual to-do list - things that we should do together - a bilateral investment treaty makes a lot of sense. American companies want a stable and predictable business environment, with a level-playing field, clear rules and clear and fair arbitration disputes" and no retrospective actions which change the material calculations that they made about long-term investments", the official added. "On foreign affairs you would see a very great desire by the United States to continue its coordination with India in the neighbourhood, and in the broader region around India going west and going east," the official said.

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