US, India vow to strengthen economic engagement

Geithner speak: We support Indias rise as an economic power

“Through stronger collaboration and coordination amongst our economic and financial policymakers, this partnership has sought to deepen US-India bilateral and multilateral engagement in order to fully capitalise on the wealth of economic opportunities between our two nations,” a joint statement issued at the end of the conclusion of second India-US Economic & Financial Partnership said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee attended the meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. In their joint statement, Geithner and Mukherjee said they discussed the challenges that both economies face in ensuring a strong recovery and price stability in the short term, as well as the range of policies necessary to reach growth at their full potential domestically.

“The United States is committed to making the investments in technology, skills, and infrastructure necessary to maintain and enhance US competitiveness in the global economy. India intends to take steps to marshal private and public saving to meet the infrastructure needs of a rapidly growing Indian economy,” it said.

“The United States and India will work together to expand trade and investment links between our two economies, and to develop and strengthen our financial systems. India and the United States will also work together in the G-20 on an effective mutual assessment process to bring about strong, sustained, and balanced global growth,” the statement said.

Briefing reporters, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said America wants India to become one of its top 10 trading partners. “In the United States, we aren’t just watching India’s rise as an economic power, we support it. We encourage it. And we want to help advance it,” Geithner said.

“India’s growth is good for us, just as our growth is good for India. I mentioned earlier that India is now our 12th largest trading partner; the President’s goal is to have India become one of our top 10,” he said.

Geithner said the US-India Economic & Financial Partnership reflects their determination to act on this opportunity and fulfill the commitment President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made to the development of the US-India relationship.

“Our economic relationship has shown real progress and has sustained growth in bilateral trade and investment. Yet when you consider the sheer size of our respective economies, it’s clear that our relationship presents both our countries with vast untapped potential for much greater trade, investment and economic opportunity,”Geithner said.