India, US to begin dialogue to boost trade, investment

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India, US to begin dialogue to boost trade, investment - The Economic Times

WASHINGTON: India and the United States kick off what is billed as their "highest level" economic engagement here Monday with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner meeting top US and corporate honchos.

While Mukherjee will focus on reassuring foreign investors that India continues to be an attractive investment destination, the US will push India to step up the pace of economic reforms to realise the full potential of one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

India's focus is on business. During the two-day stay, the finance minister will hold meetings with business honchos and top US economic policy makers," as a finance ministry official told IANS in New Delhi.

"It would be good to reinvigorate the reforms process for India's continued growth prospects," US Treasury Under Secretary Lael Brainard told select Indian media, including IANS, in a briefing Friday on the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting.

"Greater market access and retail multi-branding, those are all areas which matter," she said.

"There are a host of benefits for opening up the retail sector," ranging from more variety to cheaper cost to faster delivery of food products, she said suggesting that US companies had pioneered a lot of innovations and would like to participate in India's growth story.

The key focus of the meeting will be infrastructure development, capital markets reforms, cooperation on the Group of 20 efforts to reduce trade imbalances, and efforts to combat money laundering, Brainard said.

The partnership dialogue will have the "broadest representation" with top officials from both sides. Indian officials joining the talks include Mukherjee's chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu, economic affairs secretary R. Gopalan and Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbaro.

From the US side besides Geithner, key US economic policy makers joining the dialogue would be Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro.

Mukherjee and Geithner will join a moderated discussion Monday at the CII-Brookings Conference on US-India Economic and Financial Partnership. The event is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the US-based think tank.
 

utubekhiladi

The Preacher
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"Greater market access and retail multi-branding, those are all areas which matter," she said.
That is clearly not happening. India will not allow walmart to sell their cheap quality product which is made in china with cheap labor.

by the way, what will India get in return?
 
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U.S., India say they will deepen economic ties - MarketWatch

U.S., India say they will deepen economic ties
U.S. can compete for Indian infrastructure financing: finance minister

India is planning to raise $1 trillion in infrastructure financing by 2017. Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said financing was one of the areas of discussion between himself and Geithner on Tuesday and that there is new opportunity for U.S. investors "for work in this area."

Mukherjee and Geithner met for the second annual gathering of the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Indian central bank chief D. Subbarao also participated in the meetings, held Monday and Tuesday.

In a joint statement, the two countries agreed to deepen economic and financial ties, including working on financial sector reforms in India.

"American companies still face barriers in India in sectors such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, multi-brand retail and infrastructure," Geithner said Tuesday. He said easing those barriers "would be an important step toward integrating our economies."

India began deregulating its economy in the early 1990s but the U.S. wants to see a faster pace. India, whose economy grew 10.4% last year, was the United States' 25th largest trading partner in 2000 and is now the 12th largest U.S. trading partner, according to the Treasury Department.

Geithner also briefly spoke about talks between the White House and congressional Republicans aimed at avoiding a default by the U.S. government in August. He said there's a very good chance Congress will act to avoid default and also restore "fiscal sustainability."

Earlier Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said talk about raising the debt ceiling would continue between President Barack Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. The two men met Monday in an effort to restart negotiations that had bogged down over taxes.
 

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