New Delhi, Mar 7 (FN Agency) US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo is visiting New Delhi, from March 7-10 to attend the India-US Commercial Dialogue and CEO Forum and discuss cooperation in various sectors that could unlock new trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, a statement said. She is visiting India on the invitation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. The Commercial Dialogue is a cooperative undertaking encompassing regular government-to-government meetings to be held in conjunction with private sector meetings, with an aim to facilitate trade, and maximize investment opportunities across a broad range of economic sectors.
The last India-USA Commercial Dialogue was held in February 2019. Since then, due to the pandemic and other factors it could not be held. It is proposed to re-launch the Commercial Dialogue with strategic outlook with focus on supply chain resiliency and diversification and new emerging areas, after a gap of three years, the statement added. Earlier, India-US CEO Forum was soft-launched by Indian Commerce & Industry Minister and US Secretary of Commerce on November 9 last year via video-conference for which identified key priorities were increasing supply chain resilience, enhancing energy security and reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions, advancing inclusive digital trade; and facilitating post-pandemic economic recovery, especially for small businesses.
Trade, Commerce and Economy had always enjoyed a place of prominence in the India-US multifaceted strategic bilateral relations. Today, the two countries are leading trading partners of each other.India is the ninth largest trading partner for the US, while the US is India’s largest trading partner and the largest export destination. The bilateral trade in goods saw very robust growth during CY 2022, surpassing $131 billion in goods, thus doubling since 2014 (in 8 years) while total trade in Goods and Services is expected to cross US$ 180 billion. US is also the third biggest source of FDI for India, and USA is one of the top five investment destinations for India. This visit will immensely contribute towards furthering trade and commercial ties between the two countries, the statement added.