India will once again lobby with the US to garner the support of all member-countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in an effort to secure a seat in the exclusive group at the second Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) to be held here on August 30.

While the issue of NSG membership will dominate the strategic track of the dialogue, India also plans to put forward a strong demand to roll back the hike in H1 B and L1 visa fees, sources told BusinessLine.

The dialogue will be co-chaired by the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker from the American side while India will be represented by Ministers of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman. The last round of S&CD was held in Washington in September last year.

During the meeting of the NSG in June it was widely expected that India will be inducted as a member. But, this was scuttled by China and a handful of other countries as India is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). A US State Department on Saturday said in Washington that President Barack Obama is keen that India becomes a member of the NSG. The official also said Obama believes that the time has come for other members to take up India’s case.

Sources said the matter will be discussed at the highest level between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in China. The Obama administration has indicated earlier that India will become a member of the NSG by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the hike in visa fees has become a major bone of contention in India-US bilateral ties. Recent statements made by the US government on the visa issue has upset the Indian government.

During a visit to India last week, Michele Bond, US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, had said the hike in visa fees was a legislative change and it cannot be revisited. Bond was here for the annual India-US consular dialogue. According to her, despite hike in visa fees there has been no reduction in the issuance of the visas related to H-1B and L1.

In December last year, the US doubled the visa fees to $4,000 for H-1B and to $4,500 for L-1.

Apart from these, the S&CD will also seek to strengthen the business and investment climate, bilateral trade, security, smart cities and tourism.

US-India CEOs Forum The second US-India CEOs Forum will also take place on the sidelines of the S&CD on the August 30. Secretary Pritzker will co-chair the CEOs Forum alongside Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

“It is expected that the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue will act as platform for both short-term and long-term deliverables. The most ambitious goal on the commercial side that the two countries have agree upon, is to increase bilateral trade fivefold from the current record levels of $100 billion annually to $500 billion annually,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

comment COMMENT NOW