India, US to use S&CD platform to boost trade, investment

NEW DELHI: India and the US today resolved to use the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) mechanism to further elevate mutual trade and investment, while noting that strong commercial ties have defined their growing partnership.

In an otherwise sluggish global economy, bilateral trade between India and the United States has held steady, and bilateral investment flows have grown over the last two years, their joint statement released after the 2nd India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue here.

They noted the "significantly increased" government-to- government engagement on economic and commercial topics undertaken in the past year under the S&CD.

"They resolved to continue to institutionalise and use the S&CD to elevate their ambitions and accomplishments in mutual trade and investment," the statement said.

External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry of India Nirmala Sitharaman co-chaired the dialogue with US Secretary of State John F Kerry and US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

Recognising the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to spur growth and create jobs, India and the US also committed to creating a platform for sharing of best practices and technology, in addition to access to finance to promote integration of these SMEs in global value chains.

Recognising the success of the ongoing smart city collaboration in Visakhapatnam, the two sides resolved to launch a follow-on phase that will deliver an integrated master plan.

They resolved to continue reverse trade missions from the MOU partner cities (Ajmer, Allahabad and Vishakhapatnam) to look at smart solutions for their respective cities.

The sides looked forward to working on the Plan of Action developed for mutual technical cooperation for issuance of municipal bonds by Pune, the statement said.

The leaders noted the recommendations of the US-India CEO Forum and acknowledged the crucial role of the Forum in strengthening our partnership on commercial and trade related issues. They acknowledged the value of closely integrating the CEO Forum with the Commercial track of the S&CD.

"In line with the CEO Forum recommendations, a number of concrete measures have been undertaken," the statement said.

Taking note of the India's 'Startup India' initiative to foster greater entrepreneurship and innovation, the two sides committed to further collaboration between Indian and the US startups, venture capitalists and other stakeholders.