- Sunday, May 19, 2024
By: Pramod Kumar
INDIA’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has met US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to discuss the bilateral commercial relationship.
The meeting Monday (23) came days after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now.
Sandhu and Raimondo discussed the US-India commercial relationship, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Commerce.
“During their meeting, Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Sandhu underscored the importance of this commercial relationship and their commitment to growing business ties in support of the broader strategic relationship,” it said.
They also discussed scheduling the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue and the rescheduling of the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group meeting, it added.
According to a statement, they also discussed US-India technology collaboration and improving digital economy policies.
Following Goyal’s remarks on the Indo-US trade agreement, Ambassador Atul Keshap, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi spoke to the Indian minister for over two hours on August 20, discussing trade between the two countries.
“I had a very spirited exchange of views with Commerce Minister @PiyushGoyal about how #USIndia trade can and should attain the $500 billion vision set by @Potus. Across our 2+ hour discussion we agreed that our great democracies should work more closely to advance our mutual prosperity,” Keshap tweeted.
According to the commerce ministry, in 2020-21, the trade between the US and India dropped to $80.5bn when compared to $88.9bn in 2019-20.
