San Francisco [US], September 6 (ANI): Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said the relationship between India and US is extremely strong but the American administration “as a policy” is not looking for a free trade agreement, noting that New Delhi would be happy to discuss it with if Washington changes its mind.
Interacting with reporters, Goyal spoke about his interaction with US businessmen in San Francisco. “India and US are extremely strong by themselves. But the US administration as a policy is not looking for a free trade agreement with any new partner. Should they change their mind, India would be happy and willing to discuss,” he said.
Goyal noted however that India and US are continuously through their trade policy for the 2+2 ministerial dialogue and Indo-Pacific dialogue, CEO forum, engaged in working together attracting investments, technology and trade between the two countries. “We (India-US) are also now ready to be more engaged in the Indo-Pacific economic framework, which will help us and may not be a full-fledged free trade agreement, but certainly is the contours of trade and help create more resilient supply chains and partnerships between businesses in the two countries,” he said further.
India has been negotiating free trade agreements with several countries and regions. Goyal further said they interacted with several business leaders including the CEOs of American corporations like Adobe. He had an interaction with about 30 senior captains of industry of the startup ecosystem venture capitalists, who shared their experiences on quite a few very interesting suggestions to further the US-India engagement, flow of investments into India, creation of new jobs in India and also expressed huge confidence in the India story.
The minister is on a six-day visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles starting today to attend the India-US Strategic Partnership Forum conference and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial meeting. Goyal will meet US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and US Secretary of Commerce Gina M Raimondo on the sidelines of the IPEF ministerial meeting. The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo. (ANI)
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