Wednesday, June 21 2006 12:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The Indo-US Trade Policy Forum, designed to expand bilateral trade and investment relations between India and the United States, holds its second session in Washington on Thursday.

Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab co-chair the forum, set up during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US in July 2005 as part of the overall economic dialogue between the two countries.

Kamal Nath will also deliver the keynote address on the theme of 'Implementing the US-India Strategic Partnership' at the 31st Anniversary Leadership Summit of the US-India Business Council and address the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the 'Doha Round'.

In Washington, besides his counterpart, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Kamal Nath is slated to meet US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas.

He will return home via New York where he will inaugurate on June 23 the India Business Forum, a platform for Indian companies operating in the US, and address the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) Indian American Council meeting.

On the same day, the minister will meet, among others, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, now heading Kissinger & Associates, and two former US trade representatives, Carla Hills and Charlene Barshefsky, at an exclusive luncheon session organised by CII to discuss ways and means to strengthen US-India economic cooperation.

The inaugural session of the India-US Trade Policy Forum, held in New Delhi in November 2005, agreed on a series of steps to facilitate and promote greater trade and investment flows between the two countries and set up focus groups on agriculture, tariff/non-tariff barriers/services, investment and innovation and creativity.

The Doha Round had featured in the Forum at New Delhi with both sides expressing the hope that the wide gaps in the negotiating positions of WTO members could be narrowed for the successful completion of the Round by the end of 2006.

The 31st Anniversary Leadership Summit of the US-India Business Council features American and Indian captains of industry and senior US and Indian government leadership to collaboratively chart the roadmap ahead.

Besides Kamal Nath, Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata, Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen, CII Chief Mentor Tarun Das and McKinsey & Company Senior Partner Worldwide Rajat Kumar Gupta are slated to address the summit.

Prominent US speakers include former US defence secretary William Cohen, Honeywell International Chairman David Cote, Warburg Pincus Co-President Charles 'Chip' Kaye, AIG Vice Chairman Frank Wisner and GE India President Scott Bayman.

Besides doubling bilateral trade, the objectives of CII's ongoing eight initiatives spread over nine days include enhancing Indian investment in the US, connecting Indian Americans to India's development needs, updating US government and industry on India's economic performance and promoting an overall understanding of India in the global community.

The eight-point multiple agenda of the 'Nine Days of India in the US' includes discussion and dialogues on innovation, strategy, trilateral talks on Indo-US-China and Indo-US-Japan, healthcare, launch of the Indian Business Forum and Indian Americans.

As part of these CII initiatives, a high-profile Indian official team including Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General R.A. Mashelkar and Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda have been addressing various forums.