U.S. – India Bilateral Initiatives

The primary purpose of President Barack Obama’s 10-day, four-nation November mission overseas was to focus on repairing the U.S. economy and expanding U.S. exports. On his first day in India, the president addressed the U.S.-India Business Council in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, and was accompanied by a group of U.S. companies in hopes of opening up markets and creating future multibillion-dollar business deals.

As demonstrated by his visit to India, the U.S.-India partnership is indispensable to addressing the challenges of our times. This strategic relationship encompasses a range of issues, activities, and programs that reflect the vision of President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that benefits not only the people of the U.S. and India but the world as a whole. 

A joint statement released by President Obama and Prime Minister Singh promises to expand and strengthen India-U.S. strategic relations, below are several of the key areas they discussed and reached an agreement:

Export Controls
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama committed to work together to strengthen the global non-proliferation and export control framework and further transform our bilateral export control cooperation to realize the full potential of the strategic partnership between the two countries. The two leaders agreed to take mutual steps to implement a four-part export control reform program, including: support for India’s membership in the multilateral export control regimes; removing India’s Defense and Space-Related Entities from the U.S. “Entity List;” export licensing policy realignment; and export control cooperation.

Clean Energy and Climate Change
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama reaffirmed their countries’ strong commitment to taking vigorous action to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that will drive investment, job creation, and economic growth throughout the 21st century. The leaders strengthened U.S.-India cooperation on energy and climate change through the following initiatives, including a number of joint research and development projects, public-private partnerships, and major commercial sales of renewable energy technologies.

CEO Forum
Recognizing the vital role bilateral commerce plays in the global strategic partnership, President Obama and Prime Minister Singh highlighted the importance of the U.S.-India CEO Forum and the progress made in implementing its recommendations. The U.S. and Indian governments addressed recommendations in the areas of clean energy, infrastructure, education, and export controls.

U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership
Since U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner traveled to Delhi in April 2010 to launch the new U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the two governments have institutionalized deeper bilateral relations on economic and financial sector issues. These efforts include a macroeconomic dialogue and financial sector and infrastructure working groups.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable
This event introduced the President to the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs and showcased innovative partnerships between U.S. and Indian businesses that are creating new markets for U.S.-manufactured technologies. These entrepreneurs represent some of India’s most thoughtful and articulate minds on the major challenges facing India today and showcase the promise of the country’s dynamic, private sector-led inclusive growth. Their innovative business solutions are helping address some of India’s most vexing challenges – such as clean water, power, health care, and education – while creating new markets for their U.S. technology partners.

The National Export Initiative
As part of the National Export Initiative, President Obama noted that India—with its tremendous economic growth and its large and growing middle class—is a key market for U.S. exports. These involve some of our country’s largest companies, but also an increasing number of small- and medium-sized enterprises. On the margins of the president’s trip, trade transactions were announced or showcased, exceeding $14.9 billion in total value with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content, supporting an estimated 53,670 U.S. jobs. These cross-border collaborations, both public and private, underpin the expanding U.S.-India strategic partnership, contributing to economic growth and development in both countries. 

Indian Investment in the U.S.
The U.S. is the world’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and India is among the fastest growing investor in the U.S.  As the U.S.-India economic relationship deepens, investments from India contribute to the growth and vibrancy of the American economy and in the creation of jobs in the United States.  Over the last decade, investment capital from India grew at an annualized rate of 53% reaching an estimated $4.4 billion in 2009.  This growing flow of capital from India reflects the increased integration of the two economies and has brought many benefits to the United States, increasing U.S. exports and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the last six years alone.