India, US To Restart Commercial Dialogue, CEO Forum, Later This Year: Blinken

India and the US are restarting their bilateral commercial dialogue and the CEO's forum later this year to deepen their bilateral trade and investment relationship, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced.

Blinken made this announcement at a joint news conference with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin along with their Indian counterparts --External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after the 2+2 Ministerial here on Monday. During the 2+2 Ministerial, the two sides discussed their goal of driving inclusive economic growth in the two countries and across the region, said the secretary of State. India and the US already trade to the tune of more than USD 150 billion each year, he said.

"We are deepening that relationship by restarting the US-India commercial dialogue and the US-India CEO forum later this year, where our private sector partners can offer recommendations to strengthen even more our trade and investment relationship," Blinken said. Earlier during a virtual meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Initiative. "It can allow us to increase our collaboration across more issues including digital trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure, and tax policy," Blinken said. The last meeting of the India-US Commercial Dialogue was held on July 2020 through a telephonic conference.

The CEO forum also last met virtually in July 2020. The forum is an effective platform to highlight key issues that affect business entities and to identify areas for closer collaboration for mutual benefit of both economies. "And our countries are working together to tackle the climate crisis. The United States is supporting India's ambitious COP26 clean energy commitments by investing in renewable energy projects and mobilising private sector financing," Blinken said. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is commonly referred to as COP26.

(PTI)