U.S. Tells India To Resolve Land Acquisition, FDI Issues To Set Up Smart Cities

"Fifteen years ago, our bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 19 billion. I am happy to share that...Our bilateral trade in goods and services finally crossed that elusive USD 100 billion threshold last year and now stands at about USD 103 billion," he said.

He added that the U.S. is ready to work with India to increase the trade to USD 500 billion.

"If we achieve this goal sometime in the next several years, our economic relationship will be 25 times larger than it was just fifteen years ago. Right now, U.S. and Indian ventures create over a million jobs in India and tens of thousands in the U.S.," Verma said.

He said that another five-fold increase will link the livelihoods of millions of new workers in the U.S. and India to the success of the India-U.S. partnership.

On the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), he said "a high standard" agreement would further enhance investor confidence.

"We are also working hard to assess the prospects for moving forward with a high-standard BIT. Our teams met at the end of March to discuss India's draft model text... India has already signed on to high-standard investment protection with other strategic partners such as Japan in 2010, so we know it is possible and doable," Verma added.

The U.S. Ambassador said government and industry of both the sides have to work continuously to achieve the USD 500 billion target.

"We recognise at the Embassy that we?re not going to hit that mark standing still. So we are working just as energetically with the Indian government now," he said.

Verma also said that increasingly, Indian companies are helping to power America?s growth and job creation.

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