India's 5-point plan to boost Indo-US ties

Observing that Indo-US ties were on an upswing, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday mooted five milestones, including technology and trade cooperation for deepening bilateral economic relationship.

"To sustain the landscape of the future, I would like to suggest five milestones for a broader and deeper bilateral relationship - the nature of engagement, an enabling environment, building stronger physical and virtual networks through bilateral investments, a technology cooperation, integrating markets by stepping up bilateral trade and nurturing shared values," he said in Davos.

Addressing the Indo-US Partnership session, Nath said bilateral ties were on an upswing, with the US accounting for 18 per cent of India's total exports and emerging as the largest investing country in India in terms of foreign direct investment inflows and portfolio investment.

"The economic synergies between our two countries are enormous. This is already visible in the sphere of information technology. Nearly half of all Fortune 500 companies today outsource some component of their back office operations from India," he said.

Nath also attended a meeting of the G-6, which was hosted by Mark Vaile, the Trade Minister of Australia. The ministers reviewed the position on Doha round issues ahead of the mini-Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation and decided to intensify the trade talks with a view to adhering to the deadlines agreed to at the Hong Kong Ministerial.

The mini-ministerial is expected to be attended by around 30 trade ministers of WTO member countries.