<p>"Infrastructure is an important area and within that power generation, alternate energy... These all are areas where I believe the US companies can contribute," US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez told reporters on the sidelines of a CII conference here.<br /><br />He also said the US is looking for opportunity to increase bilateral trade and investment opportunities with India.<br /><br />India has emerged as an attractive global investment destination, and infrastructure sector alone requires investment of USD 514 billion for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12). Almost 30 per cent of this investment is envisaged to come from private sources.<br />For the 12th Five Year plan (2012-13 to 2016-17), the investment in infrastructure is envisaged at USD 1 trillion.<br /><br />On a query related to protectionism, the visiting official said: "The US has the most open market in the world and it will continue to be that."<br /><br />Last month Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had asked the G-20 nations, which also include the US, to resist protectionism as it would retard the process of recovery.</p>.<p>In September, Ohio had banned outsourcing of the state IT contracts to foreign companies. This was preceded by Washington's decision to hike visa fee for H-1B and L1 categories.</p>.<p>Sanchez further said a level playing field has to be maintained to make sure that everybody who has a product or service to offer can have the opportunity to compete fairly, which would benefit everyone.<br /><br />"We believe that we have to strengthen partnership with India and to have vibrant open market that encourage trade, direct investment and brings the best product and services," Sanchez said.<br /></p>
<p>"Infrastructure is an important area and within that power generation, alternate energy... These all are areas where I believe the US companies can contribute," US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez told reporters on the sidelines of a CII conference here.<br /><br />He also said the US is looking for opportunity to increase bilateral trade and investment opportunities with India.<br /><br />India has emerged as an attractive global investment destination, and infrastructure sector alone requires investment of USD 514 billion for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12). Almost 30 per cent of this investment is envisaged to come from private sources.<br />For the 12th Five Year plan (2012-13 to 2016-17), the investment in infrastructure is envisaged at USD 1 trillion.<br /><br />On a query related to protectionism, the visiting official said: "The US has the most open market in the world and it will continue to be that."<br /><br />Last month Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had asked the G-20 nations, which also include the US, to resist protectionism as it would retard the process of recovery.</p>.<p>In September, Ohio had banned outsourcing of the state IT contracts to foreign companies. This was preceded by Washington's decision to hike visa fee for H-1B and L1 categories.</p>.<p>Sanchez further said a level playing field has to be maintained to make sure that everybody who has a product or service to offer can have the opportunity to compete fairly, which would benefit everyone.<br /><br />"We believe that we have to strengthen partnership with India and to have vibrant open market that encourage trade, direct investment and brings the best product and services," Sanchez said.<br /></p>