Undersecretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster

Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the ‘Indian American Policy Day on Capitol Hill’ on June 2. (Photos: Vasantha Arora)

Washington: The whole gamut of India-U.S. relations, its implications on trade and investment, politics, military and space and nuclear cooperation were discussed by legislators, opinion-makers and administration officials during the first ‘Indian American Policy Day on Capitol Hill’ on June 2. The event was hosted by Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY).

Undersecretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster said India and the U.S. should move beyond political relationship and focus on trade and commerce, especially in the area of high technology.

“There has been a sea change in Indo-U.S. relations. We have political and military relationship. There has been intelligence and scientific exchanges. But we need to move forward in economic relationship,” he said, adding that “the real answer is to expand the economic relations to ensure that it is a two-way street. Both the countries have a stake in having robust trade relations so that there is a definite identity on India-U.S. trade and when difficult political patches occur we can ride through the problems. It is therefore a challenge for the private sector as well as the government businesses to lower trade barriers and encourage trade and investment.”

Juster said the focus should be on high technology exchanges and impediments should be removed for better cooperation. In the field of biotechnology, he raised the issues of patent right exclusion and data exclusivity. “The whole rhetoric on outsourcing issue has occurred because bilateral the economic relations have not been developed to its full potential,” said Juster.

Crowley, who is also the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said, “We intend to make this ‘Policy Day’ an annual event so that Indian Americans would have an opportunity to discuss policy issues.”

“Indian Americans have become an extremely strong voice in the realm of American politics, and I know that their voices will get stronger. Generally Indian Americans gather together either for a commemorative or celebratory event. But it is proposed on this ‘Policy Day’ to bring together opinion leaders on Capitol Hill and the Bush administration to provide the most current information possible on the importance of the United States-India bilateral relationship,” the Congressman said On the issue of outsourcing, Crowley said it would be a “much better and positive approach to shift the emphasis on not blaming India and other nations, but to understand why it is taking place and what has gone into creating this situation. It is more due to the lack of investment in the U.S. in the teaching of science, mathematics and engineering. Hence the approach has to be more proactive rather than being critical because it is not a short term issue but a long-term issue of how the United States could become competitive in a global economy.”

Members of Congress at the event included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Congresswomen Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), and Nita Lowey (D-NY), and Congressmen Charles Rangel (D-NY), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chris Bell (D-TX), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and John Lewis (D-GA).

Most of them spoke on democracy in India’s and the “surprise” outcome of the recent elections. They noted that India-U.S. relations are bound to strengthen with the new government as seen in the pleasant exchanges between President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Secretary of State Colin Powell and External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and J.N. Dixit.

Ashok Sajjanhar, Minister (Political Affairs) at the Indian Embassy, spoke about the elections, while K. Alan Kronstadt from the Congressional Research Service gave an overview of India-U.S. relations.

Nicholas Dean, deputy director at the State Department, spelt out how the bilateral ties bet-ween the two nations could be moved forward through cooperation in a number of areas. Dean looks after India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan Affairs in the State Department.