The Hindu Business Line : `India, US making efforts to settle tariffs issue'

Problem areas
US finds high tariff on agriculture goods an inhibiting factor.
It is also worried over enforcement of intellectual property rights.

MR DOUGLAS A. HARTWICK

Hyderabad , Nov. 18

Mr Douglas A. Hartwick, Ambassador, Assistant US Trade Representative, is quite confident that there will be a further upswing in Indo-US trade, as some of the contentious issues are ironed out through the ongoing high-level dialogues between the two nations.

The next meeting of the two countries under the aegis of the Trade Policy Forum this month, with focus on trade and investments would address several of the issues. The Forum, formed in 2005, has already met 4-5 times and is moving forward, Mr Hartwick told Business Line in an interview here recently.

Intellectual Property Rights

With fewer non-tariff barriers now, the volume of trade had gone up. However, two areas of concern for the American side were trade in agriculture and intellectual property rights (IPR), he said. India had lowered tariff barriers, but needs to do so further. There was also less trade liberalisation in agriculture. India had a large agriculture sector, which has not been as successful as other sectors of the economy. Therefore, the high tariff on agriculture goods is an inhibiting factor. Mr Hartwick hastened to add that the US very well understood the Indian Government's challenges and position on the tariffs issue, but at the same time it was very inhibiting on trade. ``We are making efforts to reach some workable understanding''.

Investments Inflow

Shrimp export has emerged as a ticklish area. Discussions are being initiated with India counterparts to see if the concerns of the shrimp exporters could be addressed. Similarly, concerns on phytosanitary standards, emission standards etc are high on the agenda, according to the US official.

On the US private sector investments growing in India, Mr Hartwick said: "You have to look around in Hyderabad itself, we have a large and growing presence of US companies. The fact that a consulate branch was being set up here, shows the importance".

In the next 10 years, as India continues to fine tune its investment regime, there would be a dramatically large inflow of American investments. India had already become a major destination. The inflow of FDI was quite high compared to a decade ago, he said.

The easing of FDI restrictions on several areas is a major area of discussions between the two sides at the Forum. In telecom, which India has opened up substantially, the concerns raised on security were being discussed, according to him.

On IPR, Mr Hartwick said there had been lot of progress and the changes have improved the protection regime. Worry remains on the enforcement front, as it requires huge resources. `` We have discussed with the Ministry of Commerce some of these matters''. The Trade Policy Forum, a bilateral mechanism focussed on trade and investments, started in November 2005 would also address the issue.

With the product patent in place and legal provisions incorporated, the response from the Commerce Ministry is very encouraging he said. However, the concern seems to be a dilution of the patent process after the introduction of the product patent. Similarly, another matter of concern was the optical disc piracy he said. "We feel there should be some legal provisions to prevent optical disc piracy," Mr Hartwick pointed out.

On whether India is among the top nations on the radar of the US, Mr Hartwick said the US Consulate in Hyderabad, the first in India after Independence, as well as the fact that the US had not opened many Consulate branches in the world, reflected in a way the growing importance of the country.

Agreeing that post 9/11, there was a tightening of the Visa procedures as the US was going through a difficult transition, Mr Hartwick said the situation had improved a lot. In 2007-08, the wait time should reduce drastically for Indian students and professionals requesting visas.

On the technology front, the US Government was keen on life sciences, especially biotechnology and space. Similarly, the Bush Administration was keen on agriculture research partnerships. The President of United States, Mr George Bush and the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had, in fact, endorsed the agriculture knowledge initiative between the two countries, he said.

More Stories on : Foreign Trade | Foreign Relations

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Ombudsperson likely for pvt sector quota

Farm production may not meet demand

Directive on agricultural tractors

`India, US making efforts to settle tariffs issue'

Afghanistan to simplify visa regime

Independent regulator proposed for BPO sector

Quotas in pvt housing projects mooted

`Remove curbs on traditional Indian medicines'