Front row, from left, member of Parliament B.J. Panda (Biju Janata Dal); Y. K. Modi, president, FICCI; Onkar Kanwar, senior vice president, FICCI; Deepak Parekh, chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation; and member of Parliament Jitin Prasada (Congress Party) at a round-table discussion on ‘Trends in Indo-U.S. Relations’ at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington on Sept. 9. Those in the rear row were not identified. (Photo: Vasantha Arora)

WASHINGTON : An Indian parliamentary delegation comprising members from major political parties in India led by B.J. Panda (Biju Janata Dal ) and a group of business leaders assured the American policy makers that the presence of Leftists in the coalition government, led by Manmohan Singh, will not hinder Indo-U.S. relations in any sphere — economic, political or military ties.

Speakers from the Joint Delegation of Indo-U.S. Parliamentary Forum (IUPF) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) delegation to the U.S. went out of the way to dispel any doubts in this regard.

Leftists, they argued, were “more rightists” than most other political parties and this was evident from how vigorously they sought foreign direct investment, especially in West Bengal where they have ruled for decades.

The delegation was participating in a roundtable discussion on ‘Trends in Indo-US Relations’ held at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, here on Sept. 9.

The parliamentarians, especially Panda-BJD, Rajeev Shukla (Congress Party), Manavendra Singh (BJP) Y.K. Modi, President of FICCI, and Deepak Parekh, chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC), lamented the fact that even though the U.S. was India’s largest trading partner, American investments in India have been quite negligible.

They said the Indo-U.S. relations have grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, but it was not reflected in the investments that New Delhi sought from the U.S. They wondered why the American response in this regard was so lukewarm.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Don Kemp told the delegation that “India’s emergence as a rising world power and a mature market economy are significant to the region and the world.

“We have jointly taken important steps to bridge previous mistrust and to lay the basis for a solid partnership for the 21st century,” he said.

Speaking at the roundtable discussion on Sept. 10, Kemp said India-US relations “will remain strong” irrespective of the outcome of the Nov. 2 U.S. presidential elections.

The American commitment to U.S.-India relations “is bipartisan, deep and growing — and this is irrespective of the outcome of the presidential elections this fall.”

“Whether our country’s elected leader is a Republican or a Democrat, the U.S. commitment to our bilateral relationship will remain strong,” he said.

Responding to speculation in Indian political circles that India-U.S. ties may lose some of their momentum — or get sidelined by domestic concerns — he asserted that the bilateral ties transcend domestic politics, just as they did during the Clinton-Bush transition in 2001 and the BJP-Congress Party transition earlier this year.

He also spoke of the growing military cooperation between the two nations that “remains one of the most vibrant, visible, and proactive legs powering the transformation of U.S.-India relations.”

He mentioned how with the burgeoning of India’s economy there has been a gradual rise in trade and commerce between the two countries.

Now with the bilateral trade almost doubling over the last decade to $18 billion, India has now become the number one trading partner of the U.S., Kemp said.

He also mentioned how Prime Minister Singh and other Indian leaders have clearly projected their intention to undertake a new generation of economic reforms.

There are also significant efforts underway to revitalize the U.S.-India Economic Dialogue, including the need to set targets and timelines for accomplishing set objectives, he added.

On the issue of outsourcing, the deputy assistant secretary of state said he did not view it as a problem between the two countries. Kemp said the U.S. is a very free country and the companies make their own decisions independent of the government on sending jobs overseas. And the outsourcing of tech jobs to Bangalore is a matter of global economics.

There are job losses in the U.S. but there are a lot of reasons for them, not just outsourcing, he said. Kemp also spoke of how the U.S. is also investing more money in India in different areas like global security, preventing HIV, countering terrorism and above all in establishing people-to-people contact.

“This relationship is not just about numbers or in terms of military cooperation, but is more fundamental,” he added.

He, however, mentioned that certain pinpricks remain in Indo-U.S. ties like the question of nuclear non-proliferation. India is yet to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said.