Wednesday, April 13 2005 10:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: With the vast strides that have been made since liberalization of the Indian economy, the Indo-US relationship has improved to a great extent, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E V K S Elangovan said.

"But still much more needs to be done to realize the full potential," he said yesterday (Apr 12, 2005) addressing the "India Connect" road-show organized in major US cities by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and co-sponsored in Washington by the US-India Business Council and the International Finance Corporation.

Elangovan said that the liberalization of the economy began when Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister. Today, with Singh as Prime Minister, he said, his vision is being translated into reality.

India and the US, the Minister said, have much in common, both countries are multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious, wedded to the rule of law. "The scope for greater trade, investment and technology cooperation between our two countries is immense."

In India, he said, "We are making every effort to sustain the high growth path of 7 to 8 per cent. The tough challenges to the Indian economic policy should be seen in the imperative for achieving accelerated growth with stability, equity and employment generation. While these are to be seen as mutually reinforcing objectives, the challenge lies in making it happen."