PM To Address Key Issues During His US Visit

India Inc. expects Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address several important matters including the standoff between World Trade Organisation (WTO) and India in the upcoming high-level meeting with the US President Barack Obama.
As per an ASSOCHAM survey, a major chunk of the corporate giants felt that the chemistry between Modi and Obama would be the high-point of the visit. “In fact, India Inc expects this very chemistry to then reflect on a whole range of issues which confront the India-US economic engagement, be it divergent views in WTO, issues on visas for IT professionals, non-tariff barriers from the Indian side or national treatment demand by the US on solar equipment in India or opening of the retail and financial sector”, said D S Rawat, Secretary General of the industry body.
The new government has expressed its dissatisfaction on the progress of addressing food security concerns at WTO and has refused to go ahead with the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) until the concerns were addressed. India’s firm stand surprised the US, and didn’t go down well with Michael Punke, the US ambassador to WTO. He said, “Today, we are extremely discouraged that a small handful of members in this organization are ready to walk away from their commitments at Bali, to kill the Bali agreement, to kill the power of that good faith and goodwill we all shared, to flip the lights in this building back to dark.".
Apart from WTO standoff, Modi is also expected to raise concerns over the high visa costs, which has adversely impacted Indian IT professionals in the country. India will also discuss issues related to market access for agricultural products.
Interestingly, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher in a meeting with Acting Deputy US Trade Representative, Wendy Cutler, marked these as key issues. Cutler had visited the country as a part to discuss the modalities and dates for convening the next ministerial level meeting of the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) in Delhi.