Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will join a meeting of the India-US CEOs Forum in New York on Oct 25 with high-level government participation from both sides.
US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Allan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director, National Economic Council, would represent the US government, according to the Indian embassy in Washington.
Ratan Tata, Indian Chair of the CEOs Forum, William Harrison, US Chair of CEOs Forum and Chairman of the Board of JP Morgan Chase are expected to participate besides CEOs of AES, Blackston Group, Cargill, Citigroup, Dow Chemicals, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, Merck, Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd, PepsiCo and Boeing.
During the US President George W Bush's March 2006 visit to India, the CEOs Forum had given its recommendations to the two governments to strengthen bilateral economic ties.
It was also decided that further meetings of the CEOs Forum would be organised in US and India to discuss measures to deepen the economic relationship. These meetings are meant to enable CEOs to discuss further steps needed with senior government representatives from both sides.
In government-to-government discussions, which will precede the CEO's forum, cabinet members from the two countries are likely to discuss bilateral issues relating to the India-US Economic Dialogue, Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, Trade Policy Forum and Energy Dialogue.
{{/usCountry}}In government-to-government discussions, which will precede the CEO's forum, cabinet members from the two countries are likely to discuss bilateral issues relating to the India-US Economic Dialogue, Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, Trade Policy Forum and Energy Dialogue.
{{/usCountry}}India-US bilateral trade and investment has been growing rapidly. US exports to India increased by 35 per cent to $9.5 billion in 2005-06 while US imports from India increased by 26 per cent to $17.4 billion in 2005-06.
India has also been receiving high portfolio investment in its stock market of more than $10 billion every year,a large portion of that comes from the US. US direct investments in India in both manufacturing and service sector are also growing rapidly.
In recent years, Indian direct investments in the US has increased substantially with $1.3 billion investment in the last two years.
The Indian and US governments are actively engaged in deepening bilateral economic ties through various bilateral fora such as India-US Economic Dialogue, Trade Policy Forum, Financial and Economic Forum, Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture and High Technology Cooperation Group, the release said.