India, US trade meeting likely in November

NEW DELHI: The high-level Trade Policy Forum (TPF) of India and the US is expected to meet after a 4-year gap on November 25 to provide a boost to bilateral commerce and investment.

India and US trade officials have prepared the framework for the ministerial level meeting here of the TPF, a body which has not met since 2010.

"The meeting is expected on November 25. Issues such as intellectual property rights, trade and non-trade barriers are likely to figure in the meeting," an official said.

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.

In recent months, the US has increased its attack against India's intellectual property regime and safety issues related to domestic pharmaceutical sector. America has launched an out of cycle review of India's IPR regime.

The USTR's 'Out-of-Cycle' review follows the 2014 Special 301 Report that came out in April in which the US Trade Representative had placed India on the 'Priority Watch List'.

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

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

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