Friday, June 23 2006 12:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States has asked India to remove its remaining restrictions on foreign direct investment, reduce tariffs on agricultural and industrial products and strengthen the protection for intellectual property rights.



The last five years had seen a completely transformed relationship between India and the US, said Vice President Richard Cheney in an address to the US-India Business Council's (USIBC's) 31st Anniversary Leadership Summit here Thursday. Despite this tremendous success, there was much more that can be done to expand their trade relationship, he said.



Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath was present along with American and Indian captains of industry.

Asking India to show the same reform-minded leadership by pressing for the conclusion of an ambitious agreement this year at the Doha Round as it had done in opening its markets to trade and capital investment, Cheney said there were very encouraging signs in a consensus building in India towards greater economic reform.



The consequences in new opportunities, new markets and new wealth add up to a bright economic future for India's people and the country's trading partners. But there was also some anxiety in the United States over the outsourcing of jobs to India posing a challenge to policymakers, the vice president said.



"If we turn our backs on other countries, we can expect them to respond in kind," Cheney told the gathering. He ruled out protectionism as an option," he said.



There are far better ways to answer the challenge of outsourcing, Cheney said suggesting that the US focus on job training and educational excellence so that it can prepare its citizens to fill the good, knowledge-based, high-wage jobs of the 21st century.

With a middle class of 300 million people - more than the entire population of the United States India is one of the fastest-growing markets for American goods and services, he said, noting that US exports to India grew by more than 30 percent last year alone.



"In addition, American companies that have research centres in India have become more competitive worldwide. From almost every angle one looks at, bilateral trade relationship with India brings tremendous benefits to both countries. That relationship is vital for reasons of economic progress, national security and global stability," he said.



In his keynote address on the theme of 'Implementing the US-India Strategic Partnership', Nath voiced India's commitment to ongoing economic reforms and hoped trade between India and the US would double in the next three years.



Besides attending the USIBC summit and the US-India Trade Policy Forum, Nath met US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz in Washington. He also delivered a talk on the Doha round at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.