John Kerry in India, pushes for bilateral investment treaty
PTI | 23rd Jun 2013
John Kerry in India, pushes for bilateral investment treaty
New Delhi: Setting the tone for the 4th round of Indo-US strategic dialogue on Monday, visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday pushed for a bilateral investment treaty to ’bolster’ investor confidence in India and expressed concerns over trade barriers.
Kerry, who arrived here Sunday evening accompanied by a high-level delegation, clearly expressed American concerns on various issues including providing greater access to Indian markets, Intellectual propery rights and the need for ’full’ implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
The US’ top diplomat, who is on his first visit to India after assuming the charge of the State Department earlier this year, referred to these issues in his first public comments after his arrival at an event.
"We need to conclude a bilateral investment treaty as soon as possible as we can, which is an important step to bolstering investor confidence in both our countries," he said. The Secretary of State also sought partnership with India and highlighted the need to tackle three major challenges - climate change, security and survival.
Kerry’s visit coincided with the announcement by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to invest USD 100 million in India’s burgeoning clean energy sector. He said US welcomed the increasing trade-ties between India and Pakistan and also asked India to play a "central role" in Afghanistan’s 2014 elections.
He also offered his condolences for the ’heartbreaking loss of lives’ in the Uttarakhand floods and announced a USD 1,50,000 aid.
"The world’s largest democracy and the world’s oldest democracy must do more together uniting not only as a threat to anyone, to counter-weigh some region or other countries, but unite as partners building a strong smart future in a critical age," Kerry said. He said he strongly believes in the Hindi proverb ’ek aur ek gyarah hote hai’, means one and one makes 11 and the two countries together will uniquely position to take on toughest challenges of our time.
Kerry will co-chair the India-US strategic dialogue with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid during which key issues like bilateral trade, defence and security cooperation besides energy and higher education would be discussed.
Kerry, whose address largely focussed on climate change, said, "The world’s largest democracy and the world’s oldest democracy must do more together uniting not only as a threat to anyone, to counter-weigh some region or other countries, but unite as partners building a strong smart future in a critical age".
"I am convinced that we together are uniquely positioned, uniquely, equipped to tackle toughest challenges of our times. Challenges regarding opportunity, security and don’t cringe when I say this, it is real, even survival," Kerry said.
He said the need of the time was to ramp up action on climate change. "Here in India, the home of so much of the history of science, we must recognise that today the science of climate change is screaming at us for action," he said.
Kerry said both India and the US can partner to create jobs and growth in many ways. "There is lot more that we can do. We share appreciation for competition, for fair competition, smart investment, open markets that encourage entrepreneurs to take risk and protect ... when they do," he said.
US officials have indicated that economic issues like intellectual property protection, local content restrictions and a continued cap on FDI are likely to be on top on Kerry’s agenda here. "In fact, our economic partnership is already growing strongly every single day," Kerry, 69, said highlighting that annual trade in goods and services between US and India has grown nearly five fold in recent times and more than 50 per cent just during the Obama administration.
He said bilateral trade and investments supports hundreds and thousands of jobs in both countries.
"We can do more here and that is why I am here this week. Because I want to ensure that our economic relations grow stronger and we make sure, we honestly address our differences, and there are some, without retracting from our shared goals," he added.
"We need to conclude a bilateral investment treaty as soon as possible as we can, which is an important step to bolstering investor confidence in both our countries," he said.
Talking about the civil nuclear deal signed by both countries in 2005, Kerry said, "That agreement demonstrates our mutual confidence of our strategic partnership. "So we look forward to realising the full implementation of this as soon as possible including making progress on the efforts of the Westinghouse, GE and Hitachi to construct nuclear power plants in India", he said.
Kerry, who began his speech in a traditional namaste, strongly supported Indian role in Afghanistan. He said India had a ’central role’ in ensuring free elections due in April next year in Afghanistan.
In the backdrop of Taliban opening a political office in Doha and the subsequent controversy, Kerry said a final settlement "may be long in coming". Speaking about the Indian economy, he said, "one of the most fruitful and meaningful wayS to advance the economy is your continuing normalisation of trade relations with your next door neighbour, Pakistan".
He said last year India-Pak trade grew by 21 per cent. "I welcome ongoing discussions about expansion of energy trade,establishment of regular air travel between New Delhi and Islamabad and the prospect of more commerce passing through Wagah and all these things could be a step in the right direction," he said.
He noted that there "was a long way to go" and added that "If India and Pakistan can confidently invest in each other, then the rest of the world will more confidently invest in you".
