NewZNew (Chandigarh) : Upbeat about growth potential in India, Jonathan Ward, Commercial Attaché, Embassy of USA said bilateral trade between the two countries could jump from current $ 100 billion to $ 500 billion. He stated that his teams of officials are exploring every possible opportunity to promote and take the bilateral trade to the next level.
Ward said, there is a lot of scope for trade and investment in defense, aviation, renewable sector besides health and education with India. Technology innovation and technology transfer are the other areas of potential cooperation between the two countries, he added.
The Commercial Attaché was speaking during his visit to PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today as part of the continuing efforts to increase bilateral trade and investments between USA and North India. He said that his primary focus is to look after the commercial relations between the two countries.
Dynamics of Indo-US trade relation have undergone a dynamic change which is a good sign for both the countries in terms of investment and joint ventures, said Ward.
Jonathan elaborated the developments in Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) which aimed at simplifying technology transfer policies and possibilities of co-development and co-production to invest in the defense sector.
Highlighting Defense sector as a major pillar of India-U.S. strategic partnership, RS Sachdeva, Co-Chairmna, Punjab Committee, PHD Chamber said, “the renewal of ‘New Framework for India- U.S. Defense Relations’ this year, has resulted in intensification in defense trade, collaboration and cooperation in maritime security”.
He further stated, it is heartening to see that USA and India are now partnering in full-spectrum and aggregate worth of defense acquisition from U.S. Defense has crossed over US$ 10 billion.
Indicating that the future prospects for trade and investment between our countries are significant, Dalip Sharma, Director, PHD Chamber said that the inbuilt complimentary of the economies of both United States and India offers innumerable opportunities and it is important that we build on the existing strong relations. We need to accelerate our efforts for the growth of bilateral economic cooperation, particularly in view of the current economic scenario. There is a need for greater synergy of efforts between the business communities of United States and India, to accelerate the two way cooperation.
Industry members from diverse sectors interacted and shared their views during the session.