Highest level India-US economic meeting next week

Washington, June 23 (PTI) Seeking to unlock the "untapped
enormous economic potential" between India and the United
States, the Obama Administration is lining up its top
financial officials for next week's India-US economic
partnership dialogue.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would receive a red
carpet welcome from his US counterpart, Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner, as the two top leaders sit down on Monday
and Tuesday for a series of meetings aimed at taking the
economic relationship between the two nations to an altogether
new level.
At the two-day meeting, the Obama Administration, besides
Geithner, would be represented by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
S Bernanke, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary
Schapiro and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman
Gary Gensler, among others.
"The comprehensive inter-agency representation from both
sides makes this the highest level of economic meeting ever
between our two nations, demonstrating the vision and
commitment of both our countries for an ever-deepening
economic partnership," a senior treasury Official told
reporters ahead of the two-day meeting next week.
The partnership was first announced during the 2009 State
visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US and formally
launched by Geithner and Mukherjee in Delhi last year.
"As two of the world's largest economies, our
relationship provides enormous opportunities for Americans and
Indians alike. The partnership seeks to deepen those ties and
strengthen these opportunities," the Treasury official said.
Besides the main meeting between Geithner and Mukherjee,
there would be separate working group meetings on
macroeconomic policy, access of finance by small businesses
and infrastructure finance at the sub-cabinet level.
US-INDIA 2 LAST
Geithner would host Mukherjee for a dinner on June 27 and
the two leaders would address a joint press conference on June
28.
Noting that India is the world's second fastest major
growing economy and over the past decade trade and investment
between the two countries have expanded rapidly, the official
said India's growth has resulted in a strong appetite for US
goods, ranging from aircraft and defence equipment to apples
and almonds.
However, he noted that despite substantial growth of
trade and commerce between the two countries, there is still
huge potential to expand this trade and economic opportunities
between the two countries.
"Given the relative size of our two economies, we still
have major opportunities to expand our trade and investment
linkages to the benefit of both countries," said the official.
"Our partnership seeks to unlock the untapped enormous
potential between our relationships. The United States wants
to see India as one of our top ten trading partners," he
added.
"The dialogue between our two governments would help us
to foster even closer connections between our economies. Our
partnership has already contributed to deepening relationship
and exchanges between our respected economic and financial
sector regulators," he said.
"The high level discussions next week would further
facilitate more open dialogue, enormous opportunities and
focus on policies that can address.. for greater economic
activities between our nations," he said.
While stating that no major trade agreements or economic
accords are expected from the next week's meeting, the senior
treasury official said among the items on the agenda would be
terror-financing and trying to better align economic policies
in the context of the Group of 20 nations talks. PTI LKJ
KAP