Very minor trade license requirement for India
The US Deputy Commerce Minister (US Assistant Secretary for Commerce) said that as a major defense partner, the benefits that India gets from the US are not available to others. He said that India requires a very nominal license to import defense equipment from the US. India has been exempted from licensing on the purchase of many merchandise from the US. He said the strategic trade dialogue and shared commitments to trade controls pave the way for high-tech cooperation between the two countries. “There is a very minimal license requirement for India,” Kendler said. As far as the export of selected items is concerned, our attitude with India is like that of our NATO partner. We know that many goods can easily reach India from America also.
Indo-US relations have progressed a lot in 25 years
He further said, ‘One of the things we discussed is that India has been kept in the category of exceptions in some of the exports to India. For this reason, American companies exporting and Indian companies importing do not have to go through complicated procedures of licensing. That’s why we want the companies of both the countries to be well aware of this so that trade between the two countries becomes easier. The US official said, “Our partnership is longstanding and we are also making rapid progress in this direction. If you look back 25 years, at that time 25 percent of American goods needed a license for export to India. Now only 0.5 percent of the items require a license from the US government. We have come such a long way because India has made strategic trade laws and implemented the rules effectively. With a strong strategic trade partnership, we give India tools that others cannot. He described the present phase as very important in terms of Indo-US relations.
Negotiations on trade of strategic equipment
US Commerce Minister Gina Raimondo had come to India last month. His assistant minister Kendler is currently in Delhi to follow up on the talks held during that tour. He said that the security concerns of the US and India are similar, due to which the partnership between the two is also easy. During the five-day visit, Kendler met with a number of government officials and industry leaders in Delhi. She is also working on final planning for the US-India Strategic Trade Dialogue (USISTD). The USISTD meeting is going to be held next month in the US capital Washington. He said that the USISTD would pave the way for delivery of critical and specialized US defense equipment to India.