Indo-US Economic & Financial Partnership talks in June

Washington, June 10: The second round of Economic and Financial Partnership talks between India and the United States will be held later this month, with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leading their respective country's delegations.

"As two of the world's largest economies, our relationship provides huge opportunities for Americans and Indians alike," Anil Kakani, Senior Advisor on India to the Treasury Department, wrote in a blog announcing the economic summit meeting.

On June 27, a number of senior US and Indian government officials and thought leaders will come together at an event in Washington hosted by the Brookings Institution and Confederation of Indian Industry to discuss important economic and financial issues facing our respective nations and the global economy, he wrote.

On June 28, the official partnership meetings will take place at the US Treasury.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Subbarao and other top economic and regulatory officials will join Mukherjee for this high-level engagement on a broad range of issues with a focus on working together to address key economic challenges in both countries.

The partnership was first announced during the 2009 State visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US and formally launched by Geithner and Mukherjee in Delhi last year.

"While there, Secretary Geithner also saw first-hand how Indian entrepreneurs are utilising creative business models to expand access to important services like mobile banking -- in some cases using US technologies," Kakani said.

Since that time, the US Treasury and India's Finance Ministry have held multiple working group meetings focused on the partnership's key issue areas -- macroeconomic policy, financial sector reforms and capital markets and infrastructure finance -- to further explore how the countries can cooperate on shared challenges and shared goals, he wrote.

"There have also been two productive meetings at the sub-cabinet level, including most recently when Under Secretary Lael Brainard traveled to India in late March to deepen engagement with the government as well as private sector leaders on topics ranging from increasing inclusive growth to managing inflation," Kakani said.

PTI