India and United States should now increasingly focus on bilateral trade cooperation, and resolve through dialogue any contentious trade issues.
The multilateral trade negotiations under World Trade Organisation (WTO) is progressing at a slow rate, a US trade expert said on Wednesday.
"WTO, which is already burdened with the trade issues, should not be overloaded with issues pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights. Thus trade between the two countries should be bilateral and any contentious trade issues should be resolved through dialogue," US-based Cato Institute chairman William Niskanen said at a PHDCCI meet.
India should play the role of a "strategic partner" of the US and address the latter's concerns on FDI and intellectual property rights.
According to him, the Doha round was bound to fail as US, EU and Japan were unlikely to develop a consensus on phasing out of agricultural subsidies.
Niskanen also termed as "unwarranted" the interference of the Bush government in the Indo-Iran gas pipeline and said it was a bilateral issue between the two countries.
The expert pointed out that the biggest challenge facing the United States was the inefficient and poor quality schooling system which would benefit India as US would have to opt for importing skilled labour from India.
{{/usCountry}}The expert pointed out that the biggest challenge facing the United States was the inefficient and poor quality schooling system which would benefit India as US would have to opt for importing skilled labour from India.
{{/usCountry}}India would need to grow at 10 per cent annually to achieve its goal of becoming a developed economy in 15 years, former Commerce Minister Subramaniam Swamy said at the meet.