India Inc looks forward to President Obama’s visit

NEW DELHI - With India-US bilateral trade projected to reach record levels this year and top $50 billion, corporate India is looking forward to the upcoming visit of President Barack Obama to help realise the true potential of their economic ties.

“The fact that President Obama’s first public appearance in India will be at a business summit reaffirms that bilateral economic relations lie at the centre of the US-India strategic partnership,” said the Confederation of Indian Industry.

“We welcome President Obama to India and hope this visit will facilitate key business policy decisions and strengthen corporate linkages between Indian and US companies,” said the chamber that is co-organising an address by the US president in Mumbai Nov 6.

Another leading chamber, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said it was keenly looking forward to significant relaxations in the export control regime of the US for dual usage technologies, with particular reference to those under controls.

“India is being denied 10 of the 16 nomenclatures, including chemicals and biological materials — technologies which fall under ‘non-proliferation’, ‘national security’, ‘missile technologies’ and ‘crime control’ of the US,” FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra said, adding the chamber looked forward to some movement in this regard.

“The length of the visit of four days and disconnected with his future visit to Pakistan are two strong signals, defining the nature of Indo-US relationship in the 21st Century,” Mitra said. His chamber is the other co-host of the US president’s address in Mumbai.

Both chambers have also organised a series of events coinciding with the Obama visit.

CII will be hosting a business conference “India-US: An Agenda for Co-Creation” here Nov 8, to be addressed by senior government officials and prominent business leaders from US and India.

“CII is hopeful that this interaction will result in concrete decisions and actions, including joint collaborative work in agriculture, energy, education and infrastructure. Enhanced high technology cooperation is also expected through bilateral agreements in aviation, space, defense and biotechnology.”

FICCI, on the other hand, is hosting a strategic dialogue with leading US think tank Brookings Institution, also here, Nov 2, with the US delegation led by Strobe Talbott, former deputy secretary of states.

A major interaction is also planned with US delegates focussed on innovation, science and technology.