US to enhance ties with India's smaller cities

The US is working to enhance partnerships with India's smaller cities and towns which are fast becoming the engines of the country's economic boom, a senior American official has said.

"India's smaller cities and towns are fast becoming the engines of the country's economic boom. Businesses can help create an economic revolution in small-town India just as it did in the once-sleepy city of Bangalore," Geoffrey Pyatt, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia said.

In his remarks to the Virginia-India Business Roundtable, Pyatt said, "We need to better understand each other's cultures, which means getting out of Bombay and Delhi and going to places like Bhubaneswar, Patna and Lucknow."

"We see great promise in these types of state-state and city-city linkages. Such delegations dovetail perfectly with our new initiative focused on accelerating the exciting linkages that already occur between our states and cities," he said.

"Similar to what we see in Virginia, think of all the innovative economic growth in Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka and in Tier 2 and 3 cities like Nagpur and Ahmedabad.

"We are working to further enhance partnerships between these states and cities and their US counterparts," Pyatt said.

Referring to the recently concluded India-US Strategic Dialogue, Pyatt said the two countries advanced a range of economic and technology-related initiatives.

From a Bilateral Investment Treaty to diabetes research to capacity building and governance training in third counties, there is little that isn't on our agenda with India, he added.

"The common connecting thread is a realisation that collaboration is essential to our respective success. Across government, our diplomats, scientists, military personnel and policy makers are working together with the belief that this collaboration will create a world that is safer, greener and more prosperous.

"Beyond the conversations in Delhi and Washington, we seek a partnership that gives local officials, entrepreneurs and civil society leaders a stake in the outcome," he said.

Over the past decade, he said, the bilateral trade has doubled and then almost doubled again. "If trends continue, we are on track to reach more than $100 billion in two-way trade this year – four times the amount in 2000."

"India is among the fastest growing investors in the United States, highlighting the mutually beneficial nature of our economic relationship," Pyatt said.

"As bilateral trade flourishes, we see software development, hardware manufacturing, aerospace, and healthcare industries all thriving, building out a diversified economic base reflecting the Indian economy of tomorrow, directly linked to global markets and vital to US and global economic prosperity," he said.

Defence trade, an area of special relevance to Virginia's economy, was virtually nil a decade ago. It is nearly $9 billion today, he said, adding that defence cooperation is not just about sales, it's about creating new linkages between our technology and business sectors.

"Our scientists and military personnel are increasingly asking not only what they can buy but what they can co-produce and co-develop. The significant steps the Obama administration has taken to ease technology transfer and licensing with India are intended to facilitate this trend and strengthen our defense ties," he said.