DefMin Inaugurates Indo-US Economic Summit

New Delhi, Sept 13 (UNI) With pre-existing barriers and mindsets that hitherto hindered Indo-US economic co-operation being removed on both sides, the two democracies -- one the world's largest and the other the oldest -- were set to do business that would benefit both, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee contended today.

Addressing the Inaugural Session of the Third Indo-US Economic Summit here, the Defence Minister observed that the passage of the Bill on co-operation in the field of civilian nuclear energy by the US Congress would go a long way in this direction.

Pointing to India being largely dependent on imported oil and gas to meet its energy needs, he said ''Our energy consumption levels are going to increase very significantly if we are to maintain a high rate of economic growth of 8-10 per cent. Conversely, our growth levels could flag if we don't have access to more than one source of energy.

''If that were to happen, that could have tremendous side-effects since India is poised to be one of the engines of the world economy in the years ahead....'' Also, he further observed, there was a large body of restrictions on the US side related to the nuclear issue that formed an invisible barrier to trade and investment on the part of both Indian and American businesses. ''Particularly so in the areas of high- technology trade and co-operation, so vital to the advancement of the economies of our two countries in the 21st century....'' Once the US Congress passed the Bill, in the form reflecting the understanding between the two governments, ''it is my belief and hope that Indo-US economic co-operation will finally come into its own'', said the Minister.

''Current bilateral trade between our two countries is one-tenth of the trade between the United States and China... There is no reason why levels of trade between our two countries shouldn't rise to, and even surpass, those levels....'' Referring to bilateral trade figures, Minister Mukherjee said India was ''already reaping the fruits'' of earlier initiatives with sales of American scientific equipment, coal, silver jewellery, fibre-optic cable, almonds and power-generation equipment sharing a growth of more than 30 per cent during 2005.

Another sector where there was ''ample scope for joint ventures'' was in defence research and production, he said.

The Joint statement of July 18 last year provided for India and the United States to work towards concluding ''defense transactions, not solely as ends in themselves, but as a means to strengthen our countries' security, reinforce our strategic partnership, achieve greater interaction between our Armed Forces, and build greater understanding between our defence establishments''.

Just before the July 18 agreement was reached, Minister Mukherjee had initialled ''an important defence cooperation agreement'' with the US government on the same lines.

UNI DG VD RN2108