India and United States should move beyond political relationship and focus on trade and commerce, especially in the area of high technology, said Kenneth Juster, US Undersecretary of Commerce.

He was speaking at the session to discuss Indo-US relationship at the 19th India Economic Summit jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Economic Forum in New Delhi.

"There has been a sea change in Indo-US relations. We have political and military relationship. There has been intelligence and scientific exchanges. But we need to move forward in economic relationship. We have not been able to fulfill it," said Juster.

He said the focus should be on high technology exchanges and impediments should be removed for better cooperation. In the field of biotechnology, he raised the issues of patent right exclusion and data exclusivity.

Pointing out the 20 per cent increase in Indo-US trade, Juster said contrary to popular perception, US doesn't have any sanctions on India.

He said improvement has been made in the overall approval rate, which had increased from 84 per cent in 2002 to 90 per cent in 2003.

To transform the Indo-US relationship, he said: "We need to let it permeate down to all levels of society. This would ensure that the transformation is not just top-down but also bottom-up."

Tarun Das, director-general of CII emphasised the need for the economic relationship to move beyond IT and software.

Former Ambassador of India to the US, Naresh Chandra, acknowledged the fact that September 11 had thrown up several challenges to the relationship between the two countries. He praised President George W Bush's policies, particularly his approach to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Referring to the Iraq crisis, Chandra said the approach of India and the US may be different but the goal was common.

José María Figueres, co-chief executive officer, World Economic Forum, said 2.3 to 2.4 million Indians settled in the United States are "contributing in a very effective way especially in high technology".

Two-way trade, across all categories has touched $30 billion, up from $25 billion last year, he said.