ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

 
Kolkata, June 17 (IBNS): US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake Jr  on Friday painted a rosy picture of a future India and its burgeoning relation with the US.

While addressing a session hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Blake expressed his confidence in the continued growth of the Indian economy as well as its mutually beneficial effects on both India and US.

He said, “A quick look at the data reveals a trade relationship that is accelerating, mutually beneficial, and relatively balanced.”

According to him the staggering annual growth rate of over 8 % if sustained can make India the world’s largest economy by 2050 and the process shall be boosted by the presence of a very young population.

Blake remarked, “At a time when much of the industrialized world is shrinking as well as aging, half of India’s population is under age 25.”

In connection to the “positive spillover effects” that the US is experiencing as a result of India’s progress, Blake informed that US goods export to India quadrupled between the years 2002 and 2009, while US services export to India more than tripled.

Blake stated, “2010 broke records for U.S.-India trade in goods with U.S. exports to India up 17% and U.S. imports from India up 40%.  This surge of nearly 30% to a high of $48.8 billion in goods trade moved India up two notches to become our 12th largest goods trading partner.”

He also mentioned the fact that Indian investment in US compounded rapidly to establish to India’s position as the “7th fastest-growing source of investment in the United States.”

He affirmed the presence of enormous opportunities that India offers to US industries by saying, “India’s market offers tremendous opportunity to U.S. exporters of goods and services.”

He delved into the issue of colossal infrastructure, energy and military upgrades required and planned by the Indian government and remarked that it offered a myriad of probable business ventures likely to have major positive effects on the US economy.

Blake said, “U.S. companies want to provide the goods and services needed to upgrade and build India’s railroads, airports, power plants, and fiber optic cables.  India will need to invest $143 billion in health care, $392 billion in transportation infrastructure, and $1.25 trillion in energy production by 2030 to support its rapidly expanding population.”

Blake however also verbalized his concerns regarding the bottlenecks prevalent like necessary infrastructural upgrades, corruption and absence of transparency.

He remarked, “Indeed, India ranks 134 out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s index of “Ease of Doing Business.””

In reply to the concerns raised by the expiry of the Generalized System of Preferences Blake assured that the US government is committed to free trade but he refused to clarify as to when the renewal will be possible.

On being probed about the B1 visa fraud charge on Infosys by a US court he replied that it shall not have any negative effect on the issuing of visas in near future or on the trade relationship between India and US.

On the issue of coastal trade and security Blake asserted that it is indeed a very poignant matter and though already lot of effort has gone into beefing up military activities along the coastline, there is scope for future improvement in cooperation with India and other South Asian countries.