India has urged the US to ease visa curbs on IT professionals and relax its protectionist stance on global sourcing for its services industry. The External Affairs Minister, Mr S. M. Krishna, conveyed this message to visiting US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, here on Tuesday.
On the issue of commercial cooperation in non-military use of nuclear energy, Mr Krishna said he had a good discussion with Ms Clinton. Mr Krishna assured Ms Clinton of India's commitment to a level-playing field to all US companies, within the framework of national law and India's international legal obligations.
“We were pleased that US companies are engaged in substantive discussions with the Indian operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. We hope that they will make early progress towards contractual steps,” Mr Krishna said.
Key action points
Four key lines of action were discussed at the meeting. Ms Clinton said India and the US have to continue expanding trade and investment.
“We have come a long way since my first visit to India. In 1995, trade stood at $9 billion. This year, we expect to surpass $100 billion. But, I truly believe that there is much more potential to unleash. We should be working towards having one of the world's largest trading relationships. We need to continue to reduce barriers and open our markets to greater trade and investment,” Ms Clinton said.