USISPF set up to deepen Indo-US ties

NEW DELHI: A new representative body -- US- India Strategic Partnership Forum ( USISPF) -- is being set up to further enhance business relations between the two countries.

The non-profit corporation aims to promote bilateral trade and work on creating "meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens", USISPF said in a statement.

The body will work closely together with businesses and government leaders to achieve its goals of driving economic growth, job creation, innovation, inclusion and entrepreneurship, it added.

USISPF's board of directors will include Chairman John Chambers (Executive Chairman, Cisco), Vice-Chairs Punit Renjen (Global CEO, Deloitte LLP) and Edward Monser (President, Emerson Electric), and board members Indra Nooyi (Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo), and Ajay Banga (President and CEO, MasterCard), the statement said.

Others on the board include Susan Esserman (Partner, Steptoe and Johnson), William Cohen (Chairman and CEO, The Cohen Group), Purna Saggurti (Chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch), and Frank Wisner (International Affairs Advisor, Squire Patton Boggs), it added.

Mukesh Aghi will lead USISPF as president while Gaurav Verma will serve as chief operating officer.

"Following the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's and President Trump's meetings in the US in June 2017, I am incredibly confident about the powerful partnership between the US and India - which is one that I believe can serve as a model for the rest of the world," Chambers said.