US Eases Curbs on Technology Exports to India.

NEW DELHI: The US has decided to ease control on exports of technology to India, it was revealed at a joint press conference addressed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama after their one-on-one meeting here.

“This is a manifestation of the growing trust and confidence in each other. We have also agreed on steps to expand our cooperation in space, nuclear and defense and other high-end sectors,” said Singh.

On his part, Obama said the major trade deals, worth about $15 billion, announced in Mumbai on Saturday, were an “important step in elevating India to one of the US’ top trade partners.”

“We agreed to keep working to reduce trade barriers and protectionism. We are already implementing nuclear-civil agreement,” he said, referring to the commitments made by both the leaders to enhance the bilateral cooperation in technology transfer, enhancement of trade and investment flow to create jobs in the respective nations and raise the living standards.

The two countries also agreed to enhance cooperation in several areas including agriculture. “The cooperation would cover weather and crop forecast, critical to the Indian agriculture which employs more than 50 percent of its people,” Singh said.

Welcoming the US initiatives, Singh said this was essential for sustaining a remarkable growth. “Our (India’s) objective is to sustain a growth rate of 9-10 percent per annum in the next three decades. And in that process, the help of the US is of enormous significance,” he said.

Singh pointed out that India needed $1 trillion of investment in infrastructure over the next five years.

“We need American assistance by way of capital exports. India needs an investment of more than a trillion dollars in next five years in its infrastructure development. We welcome American investment in our economy,” Singh said.

“In my discussion with the (US) president, we have decided to accelerate the deepening of our ties and our work as equal partners to strengthen our relationship that will positively and decisively influence world peace, stability and progress,” said the Indian prime minister.

Singh asserted that India was not trying to snatch jobs from Americans. “India is not in the business of stealing jobs from the US... outsourcing (work to India) has helped improve the productive capacity and productivity of America,” he added.

On outsourcing, Obama said both countries were “operating on stereotypes that have outlived their usefulness.”

The US president said that the deals with India will create 50,000 jobs back home. The purchase of US Cargo planes by India alone will create 22,000 jobs in America, he added.

Defending his promotion of the fact that the deals were going to create tens of thousands of jobs, Obama said he wants to tell his fellow countrymen that it was “not a one-way street.”

“Whenever I’m asked about Indians taking away our jobs, I want to say, you know what? They’ve just created 50,000 jobs.” Obama added.

The Indian prime minister, meanwhile, said that economic growth of the country was necessary to deal with the problem of poverty. “Foremost concerns of the Indian polity is to grapple with the problem of poverty which still afflicts millions of our citizen. For that, we need a string resurgent robust rate of economic growth. And it is a growth rate which is within our reach,” Singh added.

Separately, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee reviewed ways to deepen the bilateral economic relations and how to reach a global agreement on rebalancing the world economy.

Geithner and Mukherjee talked about technical cooperation on capital markets, infrastructure investments and joint efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, according to a Treasury spokeswoman.

Source : arabnews.com