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Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday raised the issue of recent hike in fees for professional visas H1B and L1 and conclusion of the Totalisation Agreement with US Secretary John Kerry even as she asked the US to find a “non-discriminatory” solution to solve these issues at the second Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD).
“The issue of totalisation and recent fee hike for H1B and L1 visa have affected our people-to-people exchanges, which is a vital source of strength for our relationship. I am sure these issues will be deliberated in depth in the commercial track of our discussion. But I would urge you to find a just and non-discriminatory solution to these issues,” Swaraj said during her opening remarks at the plenary session.
This is the first time that the India-US S&CD is taking place in India. It began last year in September in Washington DC. From the American side Kerry and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker is co-chairing this with Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman.
During the meeting, Swaraj also sought US cooperation in securing membership at the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) and the coveted trade grouping Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
“Our two countries share the same democratic ethos of freedom, equality, pluralism and rule of law. India’s enhanced global role is in our mutual interest. It is in this context, we look forward to continue working closely with the US to secure our membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and permanent membership of the UN Security Council,” she said.
On APEC, Swaraj said India’s membership at the forum has both “strategic significance as it has commercial potential” for India.
Swaraj also added that India aspires to be one of US’ close defence ally even as she asked US to clearly define what it means by the term “major defence partner” as the American authorities recently called India.
“We want to take our expanding defence cooperation to the next stage of co-production and co-development. For this, we need to define the benefits associated with India's designation as a 'Major Defence Partner' of the US during Prime Minister's visit in June. This would spur defence industry collaboration between India and the US and help India play the desired role as a net provider of security in the region,” she said.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is in the US where he signed the a key defence pact with the US known as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) along with US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.
The Minister said Home Minister Rajnath Singh will also be visiting the US soon for Homeland Security Dialogue.
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