Eighth ministerial meeting of “India-United States of America (US) Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue” was held on October 15, 2021 at Washington D.C.
Highlights
- Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman and Secretary of Treasury of the United States, Dr. Janet Yellen, chaired the meeting.
- During the meeting, both sides held discussions on a range of subjects, such as macroeconomic outlook, financial regulatory & technical collaboration, recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, climate finance & anti-money laundering, multilateral engagement, and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
- They affirmed their commitments for continue collaboration at bilateral as well as multilateral fora in order to address mutual and global economic issues and strive towards friendly strategies and solutions.
Conclusion of the meeting
This meeting was concluded with adoption of Joint Statement by both the ministers.
Economic Relations between India and USA
The bilateral trade between India and the USA was at USD 88.75 billion, in 2019-20. USA is among those few countries with which India is having a trade surplus. In the year 2019-20, India’s trade surplus with the USA rose to USD 17.42 billion as compared to USD 16.86 billion in 2018-19. India is the sixth largest supplier of services imports for USA. India’s large market, progress towards development and economic growth make it an essential market for USA exporters.
Issues in the Trade Relationship
- Market barriers including tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as multiple practices & regulations are the biggest concerns in the bilateral relation between both the countries
- Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Programme is another issue as under this system, USA decided to withdraw duty-free benefits to Indian exporters.
- For India, another issue is USA’s temporary visa policies. It affects Indian nationals working in the United States.