The United States Department of Commerce will lead a trade delegation to India later this year to take a closer look at the opportunities offered by the country's market, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary Holly Vineyard.
"I am not making the formal announcement for a trade mission, for that is going to be the job of my boss, but we are looking very closely at having a trade mission to go to India towards the end of the year, and I can tell you it will be an exciting event," Vineyard said, addressing some 100-odd top-notch American and Indian-American entrepreneurs at a conference at Whippany, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
The 35th annual New Jersey World Trade Conference that was dedicated to India for the first time in history of the non-profit body was organised in collaboration with the Consulate General of India, New York, as part of the 'International Trade Week' proclaimed annually by the President of the United States.
Vineyard said that the department wants to encourage all those American companies that are looking at the major changes taking place in India in terms of doing business and making investments there.
"If you looked at India a few years ago, it is time to take another look now," she said, making a pitch for doing business in India.
"India is a very different than it was a decade ago. [There is] enormous improvement," she said.
"We see a lot more opportunities for the US companies in India as well," Vineyard, who was a DoC desk officer in India almost a decade ago, said.
Noting that there exists an excellent economic team in India led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- himself an economist of repute -- Vineyard said that Bush's recent travel to India signifies the booming relationship in both economic and political terms.
Citing the 2005 Open Air Agreement signed between India and the US, which she described as of enormous significance, Vineyard said that the Federal Aviation Administration is opening an office in New Delhi to increase 'our ability to deal more directly' with the Indian Government on air traffic and air safety issues.
"Our commercial service this summer is going to be posting a new officer in Kolkata and it is an exciting event for us to be able to post a new officer there,"
She said that the department will also add an Intellectual Copy Right attaché to the department's office in New Delhi in December this year.
"The recent special 301 report which catalogues countries and how they fit into respecting copyright unfortunately places India into what we call Priority Watch List, meaning that our companies need to take special precautions of the 13 countries there,' she said.
But Vineyard said that the United States thanks the Indian Government for the recent Patent Bill and the steps that have been taken to protect IPR.
"I also note that the Indian private sector has also become more engaged because it is increasingly obvious that it is in the best interests of the Indian companies to also protect the intellectual property rights,' she said.
"It is not just our companies but also Indian companies that want to protect the IPR."
