India-U.S. should target bilateral trade of $25 billion
over the next five years: Murasoli Maran

Shri Murasoli Maran, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, has said that India and the United States
should aim at an annual trade turnover of at least U.S. $25 billion over the next 5 years, which would
represent more than doubling of the current level of bilateral merchandise trade, which crossed U.S. $12
billion in 1999.

Addressing the “Conference on Indo-U.S. Trade and Investment — An Agenda for Action”, organised by the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr. Maran pointed out that although the U.S. was India’s largest
trading partner as well as one of the top investors in India, the range of the existing export basket from India
continued to be limited with India's share of U.S. imports estimated at only 0.7%.

The vision document signed by Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Clinton aims to institutionalise the
India-U.S. commercial dialogue and would deepen ties between the Indian and the U.S. business commu-
nities.

In pursuance of the joint vision statement signed by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and U.S.
President, Mr. William J. Clinton on March 21, India and the U.S. have finalized the Terms of Reference of
the India-U.S. Commercial Dialogue.

Shri Murasoli Maran, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry on behalf of the Government of India and
Mr. William Daley, Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce, on behalf of the Government of the United
States, signed the understanding for Terms of Reference.

The Minister said that the commercial dialogue would encompass regular government-to-government
meeting in coordination with private sector with the objective of (a) facilitating trade and (b) maximizing
investment opportunity across a broad range of economic sectors including information technology, infra-
structure, bio-technology and services.

The Minister stressed that one of the primary foundations of the new architecture of bilateral relations
unveiled in the Vision Statement would be the economic and commercial partnership between the peoples
and businesses of the two countries.

India-U.S. renewable energy MoU signed

A Memorandum of Understanding in the field of renewable energy was signed between the Solar Energy
Center of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
of the United States Department of Energy.

Shri N.N. Mookerjee, Secretary, Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources and Dr. Ernest J. Moniz,
Under Secretary of Energy in the United States Department of Energy signed the Memorandum of Under-
standing (MoU) on behalf of the respective institutions.

The MoU envisages cooperation between the Solar Energy Center and the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory to promote scientific and technological cooperation in the field of renewable energy. The
activities proposed to be undertaken under this MoU include strengthening of capacities for energy
technology innovation, promoting technologies to increase energy conservation and for a cleaner energy
supply.

The contribution of U.S. based companies in the power sector in India has been very significant. Out of
techno-economically-cleared private power projects, which are having foreign participation, 47 per cent
projects have USA based developers are 57 per cent and 80 per cent respectively.

The major U.S. power companies like Enron, CMS Generation, General Electrics, AES Transpower, Bechtel,
Southern Electric, Ogden, PSEG Global etc. are associated with the growth of power sector in the country.
It is estimated that in next few years’ investment by U.S. companies in the Indian power sector could cross
U.S. $10 billion dollars.

6 INDIA NEWS ¢ April 2000

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