UNITED STATES AND INDIA MEET DURING TRADE POLICY FORUM

News Date October 27, 2009

U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk and India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma met in New Delhi on October 26 for the sixth ministerial-level meeting of the United States-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF). The two governments signaled their readiness to continue their bilateral trade policy dialogue with renewed vigor under the five Focus Groups: Agriculture, Innovation and Creativity, Investment, Services, and Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers.

The two governments agreed to work together on a framework for promoting real and meaningful cooperation in trade and investment. They also agreed to work together to support greater involvement by small and medium enterprises in each other's markets, and to pursue initiatives in the further development of India's infrastructure, and collaboration on clean energy and environmental services, information and communications technologies (ICT), and other key sectors.

The delegations discussed the continued working of the United States-India Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG), which had been created under the TPF to provide strategic advice. Ambassador Kirk and Minister Sharma expect that the work of TPF will benefit from the depth, breadth and diversity of expertise of the PSAG in trade and international affairs.

A number of irresolvable issues between the US, India and China regarding access to agricultural markets in the developing world led to the collapse of the Doha Trade Negotiations in July 2008.  The Obama Administration has indicated its interest in getting the trade negotiations back on track.  In an interview posted Monday, October 26, 2009 at www.livemint.com, an online newspaper, Kirk made it clear that the US “advocates a combination of bilateral and multilateral negotiations to resolve thorny issues for a successful conclusion of the WTO’s Doha development round”.  (Contact: Amy Mann)