The US is keen to speed up its negotiations with India for the proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty before Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washignton in June.
Modi is likely to visit Washington from June 7 and 8 to meet US President Barack Obama. With the officials of the two nations starting preparations for the visit, the US wants to move fast to make substantial progress in the negotiations with India on the proposed BIT in the coming weeks. Washington is understood to have conveyed to New Delhi that even if the BIT could not be signed, an announcement on the substantial progress in the negotiation by the two leaders will send out a encouraging signal to US companies seeking to invest in India.
“They (US companies) want to invest more in India because they know that it will be one of the 21st century’s great growth stories,” Nisha Desai Biswal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said here recently. “And one of the best tools out there to increase US investment in India would be a high-standard BIT,” she added.
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