Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson is promoting mutually beneficial partnerships between the United States and India to business leaders in New Delhi as part of a trade mission to strengthen bilateral economic ties as the Indian government launches a new $1 trillion infrastructure project.
“Our goal is to work with leaders like you to bring more prosperity to the world’s largest democracy and to build on the strong growth in the overall U.S.-India trade and investment relationship,” Bryson said in New Delhi to a round-table discussion on the infrastructure project hosted by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce March 27.
“If our businesses and governments at all levels work closely together, we can help support India’s path toward inclusive growth for all of its people,” the secretary said.
He said the new five-year infrastructure plan will dramatically increase connectivity across India and play a key role in supporting the growth of the country’s emerging regions and cities.
“We are strongly encouraging businesses across the U.S. to consider the full spectrum of opportunities and partnerships throughout India” and not just in the country’s largest cities, Bryson said. To gain a better understanding of the full potential of India’s many regions, the secretary scheduled a visit to the growing city of Jaipur March 28.
There, he will deliver keynote remarks to a group of Indian industry representatives about ways to increase bilateral trade that provide “win-win opportunities for the United States and India.”
The Commerce Department said in a March 27 statement that before leaving New Delhi, Bryson joined senior government officials, including Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde and Minister of Civil Aviation Ajit Singh, for meetings that highlighted “U.S. industry’s interest in participating in India’s infrastructure development and spotlighted investment opportunities in Growth in Emerging Metropolitan Sectors (GEMS) cities involved in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project.”
The department said the GEMS initiative “embraces the notion that export-driven growth will result from small and medium-sized enterprises working with their counterparts in fast-growing ‘next-tier’ cities in emerging markets like India.” The DMIC project is expected to be built between Mumbai and Delhi with a budget of $90 billion as part of India’s “ambitious and admirable” infrastructure plan, according to Bryson.
He said that the U.S.-India relationship is “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” and that it is now time to “deepen and broaden that partnership to be more inclusive.” Commending cooperation on the new infrastructure project as a way to bring prosperity to more citizens in the United States and India by creating jobs and boosting economies, he said the U.S. government will continue to focus on India as a key partner in growth.
Bryson’s five-day trip came after about 15 trade missions conducted by the Commerce Department ranging from clean technology to health care equipment. He was joined by representatives from the Export-Import Bank, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The delegation also included 16 representatives of U.S. companies specializing in project management, engineering services, transportation and energy.
The group is scheduled to visit Mumbai following the stop in Jaipur, and will return to Washington March 30.