PM welcomes US initiative and commitment to support India

NEW DELHI: In a direct assault on projectionist tendencies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India was not in the business of stealing American jobs. Mr Singh, who sought a new economic impulse in an interlinked world, said that close interactions between nations make economies more robust.

“India is not in the business of stealing jobs from the US. Outsourcing (work to India) has helped improve the productive capacity and productivity of America,” Mr Singh said at a joint press conference with visiting US president Barack Obama at Hyderabad House.

His statements came after president Obama flaunted the business deals struck in India that would add 50,000 additional jobs back home.

Replying to a question on outsourcing, the US president, who met Mr Singh and held delegation-level talks, said that both countries were operating on stereotypes that have outlived their usefulness and clarified that he hasn't raised the outsourcing bogey during this trip.

To a specific question on the purpose of his visit, Mr Obama said part of the reason why he advertised creation of 50,000 jobs from deals signed in Mumbai during his visit was to tell people in America why he spent so much time in India. His visit came in the backdrop of electoral setback in the US Congress for Obama's Democratic Party, amid criticism of his economic policies and the president summed up the situation, saying that people were frustrated with high unemployment level and difficult economic conditions.

During his visit, over 20 deals worth $10 billion were signed between the corporations of the two nations.

President Obama said the relationship between the two nations as a defining partnership of the 21st century and acknowledged India’s emergence as a prominent and key player on the global stage.

On his part, Mr Singh welcomed American initiative and commitment to support India, saying this was essential for sustaining 9-10% growth over the next three decades. He pointed out that India needed $1 trillion of investment in infrastructure over the next five years.

The two leaders committed to enhance bilateral co-operation in technology transfer, enhancement of trade and investment flow to create jobs in the respective nations and raise the living standards.