India A Land Of Emerging Opportunities: Ajit Singh

He said the GPS Aided Navigation System 'GAGAN' developed by Airports Authority of India with the support of Indian Space Research Organization is another significant step which would bring India on the threshold of redefining navigation in the region from land based to satellite based system.

"India is the fourth country in the world after USA, Japan and Europe to have such navigation system which will facilitate aircraft landing in tough weather and terrain. This will also help in reducing flying time and fuel consumption by providing straight navigation and thus reducing carbon emission," he said.

"We have also allowed Flexi Use of Airspace by civil and military users, which permits them to efficiently and effectively utilize the available airspace on sharing basis.

It is expected that there will be a reduction of carbon emissions by about 7 million kg per annum by direct routing between 7 major city pairs only because of flexible usage of airspace," the minister said.

Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said - the trade and economic partnership remains a central pillar of expanding bilateral ties.

The annual two-way trade in goods and services is more than $100 billion, while the total two-way foreign direct investment is nearing $30 billion.

"India is now the third-fastest-growing source of foreign direct investment in the US, and the US is among the top five of India's preferred FDI destinations. The growing flow of capital from India has created thousands of jobs in the US along with business partnerships and technology tie-ups.

People centric linkages?are changing the landscape of our relationship," Rao said.