US Secretary of State John Kerry today met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. Kerry is here participate in the second Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.
It is being held, among other things, to review implementation of various decisions taken during the previous meeting.
This is the signature mechanism for advancing shared priorities of generating sustainable economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening business ties between two democracies.
India are US are all set to cement their relation with a renewed commitment. The US Secretary of State John Kerry is on a 3-day visit to India during which he will co-chair the meet.
John Kerry is participating in the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue along with US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
India is being represented by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will co-chair the Dialogue.
S&CD is the most comprehensive mechanism to discuss and deliberate the entire gamut of cooperation between the two countries.India and the U.S started the annual strategic dialogue in 2009. The decision to elevate the India-US Strategic Dialogue into a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue was taken during the visit of US President Barack Obama to India in January 2015.
The inaugural S&CD was held on September 22, 2015 in Washington DC.Under the dialogue issues like sustainable economic growth, creating jobs, improving the business and investment climate, enhancing livelihoods and other such issues are discussed.
US-India bilateral trade reached $109 billion in 2015, up from $37 billion in 2005. U.S direct investments in India is estimated at about $28 billion in 2014. More Than 65 large Indian corporations, including Reliance Industries Limited, Essar America, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Piramal, have together invested about US$ 17 billion in the U.S.
On strategic levels, major summit level talks took places in September 2014, January 2015 , September 2015 and June 2016. India-U.S. bilateral relations have developed into a “global strategic partnership”, based on shared democratic values and increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional and global issues.
There is frequent interaction between the leadership of the two countries, including telephone calls and meetings on the sidelines of international summits.