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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  ‘Track 1.5 Event’ will resolve ties: Nancy Powell
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‘Track 1.5 Event’ will resolve ties: Nancy Powell

The outgoing US ambassador says India and the US should convene a 'Track 1.5 event' in the first 100 days of the new Indian govt's inauguration

The outgoing US ambassador to India Nancy Powell. Photo: AFPPremium
The outgoing US ambassador to India Nancy Powell. Photo: AFP

New Delhi: India and the US should convene a “Track 1.5 event" in the first 100 days of the new Indian government’s inauguration in order resolve contentious bilateral issues and help realise the full potential of their trading relationship, the outgoing US ambassador to India Nancy Powell said on Friday.

In a “track 1.5 event", both official and non-official players work on resolving conflicts.

“One possibility might be the convening of a Track 1.5 event during the first 100 days of the new Indian government to begin a conversation on how we can best accomplish this task," Powell told annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in India. A new government at the Centre is scheduled to take charge by 31 May after the ongoing general election is over.

Powell, who has resigned as ambassador and is expected to leave her post in May, said the two countries should conclude long-pending negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). “We are pleased that negotiators met face-to-face to continue technical discussions in February. We need to push forward these negotiations because a successful BIT will bring benefits to both countries, and it could also pave the way for more far-reaching agreements that could potentially yield much larger trade results for both our economies," she added.

While the US is strongly opposed to Indian rules that require local procurement in various sectors, Powell said her nation is “sympathetic" to the desire to develop a stronger manufacturing sector in India and is ready to discuss how India might develop that capacity “in a way that does not constrain trade." Powell said India should lower tariff and non-tariff barriers as the first step “to its own prosperity" because India has the strength as well as resilience to meet competitive challenges.

“We ask that India engage with the United States, at senior and working levels, to have those difficult discussions on issues such as intellectual property rights and taxation," she added.

Powell said she disagrees with the “fashionable" view that the India-US relationship was in the doldrums, adding: “A relationship that is strengthening and deepening may not draw splashy headlines, but it is not headlines that should define us."

She said the two countries should focus on taking their bilateral trade to $500 billion from $61 billion in 2012-13. “Some people point to the press headlines in both our countries describing challenges and frictions in our current trade relationship and are incredulous to hear us talk about the US and India reaching $500 billion in bilateral goods and services trade. Certainly achieving this goal will be no easy feat and could take many years to accomplish. However, because of the clear benefits it would bring, it is an ambitious and worthwhile goal for both of our nations to strive toward," she added.

The trade relationship between the two biggest democracies of the world has been strained recently with Washington expressing its dissatisfaction with India’s intellectual property rights (IPR) regime amid indications it may list India as a ‘priority foreign country’ in its Special 301 report -- a title reserved for the worst IPR offenders -- which could invite US sanctions.

Indian government officials have played down such speculation while maintaining that the country would fight such a move at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The US has already taken India to the WTO challenging an Indian ban on imports of US poultry products and India’s move to make domestic content requirements mandatory in its solar energy programme.

In turn, India has taken the US to the WTO challenging US duties on Indian steel products.

Relations were further strained by the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York last year on visa fraud charges as well as lack of progress in the civil nuclear deal due to the conditions imposed buy the Indian Civil Nuclear Liability Act.

Speaking at the same meeting, industry department secretary Amitabh Kant defended India’s record, saying India has an “extremely well-settled and stable intellectual property regime" that is based on comprehensive laws and rules with strong enforcement mechanisms. “The Indian Patents Act is the most comprehensive TRIPS (trade related aspects of intellectual property rights, an international agreement)-compliant and is rigidly enforced. And the awards of patent are a very transparent legal process with decisions and processes subject to legal scrutiny," he said.

On the subject of the Indian government issuing a compulsory licence to Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Ltd to sell a cheap version of German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG’s kidney and liver cancer drug Nexavar in the Indian market, Kant said it is the only such licence that India has issued since 2005 when the TRIPs agreement came into force. “No democratically elected government can ensure that you have medicines which are beyond the reach of the common man. Therefore, the right equilibrium, the right balance must be found between innovation and our ability to ensure the reach of medicine to the people of the country," he added.

Kant said the US immigration reforms bill must address the concerns of the Indian information technology industry. “If goods have to have free movement, talent must have free movement," he added.

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Published: 26 Apr 2014, 12:57 AM IST
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