India, US officials start talks for trade policy forum meeting

NEW DELHI: Seeking to boost bilateral commerce and investment, India and US trade officials today met to prepare the framework for the ministerial level meeting of the Trade Policy Forum (TPF), a body which has not met since 2010.

"Commerce and Industry ministry officials met counterparts from the US here. They have discussed various issues related with trade and investment," a senior government official told PTI.

The official said that soon Deputy Unites States Trade Representative (USTR) Wendy Cutler will also visit here to meet Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet American President Barack Obama in September to give a new momentum to the strategic partnership.

The US-India TPF is an inter-agency collaboration led by the USTR. It is the principal trade dialogue between the countries. It has five focus groups: Agriculture, Investment, Innovation and Creativity (intellectual property rights), Services, and Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers.

Last month, USTR Michael Froman called up Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the two had talked about ways to further strengthen the relations on economic front.

The TPF meeting is expected by the end of this year. In recent months, the US has increased its attack against India's intellectual property regime and safety issues related to domestic pharmaceutical sector.

American pharma sector had alleged that Indian IPR laws discriminate against US companies and violate global norms.

At present, bilateral trade is around USD 100 billion. The US-India Business Council (USIBC) had said bilateral trade between the countries could touch USD 500-billion mark over the next one decade.

India has received about USD 12 billion in FDI from the US companies during April 2000 to March 2014.