The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in association with the American Chamber of Commerce, Eastern Region chapter, and the U.S. Consulate General, Kolkata organized an Interactive session with the 25th United States Ambassador to India, His Excellency Kenneth I. Juster on 7th February 2018 at 2.30 p.m. in the Chamber premises.

Ambassador Juster was accompanied by Mr. Craig Hall, Consul General of the US Consulate General Kolkata and Mr. Jonathan T. Ward, Principal Commercial Officer, US Commercial Service, US Consulate General Kolkata.

The session was opened by Mr. B. B. Chatterjee, Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry by delivering the formal Welcome Address. Mr. Debdas Sen, Chairman, AmCham Eastern Region, moderated the session. Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry formally closed the session with Vote of Thanks to The Ambassador. Mr. Gulshan K. Sachdev, Vice Chairman, AmCham National Executive Board was also part of the Session.

The US Ambassador to India, H.E. Juster’s speech primarily centered around two areas:

(1) The US Government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and
(2) Bilateral economic relationship – which he emphasized is the cornerstone of Indo-US strategic partnership.

He mentioned that The US Indo-Pacific strategy reflected the growing range of shared interests between the two countries and it was a natural complement to India’s “Act East” Policy. It was vital that the Indo-Pacific region continued to be free and open. The US-India strategic partnership was designed to strengthen both countries and have a beneficial impact on the region. Promotion of economic connectivity through private sector-led growth, free and fair trade, use of responsible debt-financing practices, and the transparent development of infrastructure. Preserving regional stability and security, preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and eliminating the scourge of terrorism were all being aimed at.

The Ambassador believes that a strong foundation for strategic partnership that can have a significant positive impact on the 21st century and beyond had been laid and it is time now to build upon this partnership, make it durable and bring about remarkable economic rise of the region. It is believed that Indo-Pacific was increasingly a place of peace, stability and growing prosperity, rather than one of disorder, conflict, and predatory economic policy. Cooperation in defense and counter-terrorism has been a key pillar of Indo-US partnership, he said. The US sought to assist India’s efforts to build up its indigenous defense capabilities, as well as enhance the inter-operability of the two forces as major defense partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

The US sought to pursue the same strategic policies on its economic relationship that it had applied to its defense relationship. While India was in the midst of an economic surge as it integrates fully in the global economy, the US trade and investment relationship with India also continues to grow. Bilateral grade has gone up from USD 20 billion in 2001 to USD 115 billion in 2016.There was plenty of room to expand these numbers by increasing flow of goods and services in both directions.He said “America First” and “Make in India” are not incompatible. Rather, investing in each other’s markets will be mutually beneficial as it will increase economic interactions and volume of trade, lead to collaboration on emerging technologies and create jobs in both countries.

India could now seize the strategic opportunity through trade and investment, to become a major hub for US business in the Indo-Pacific region. Continued reforms and trade liberalization will enable India products to more readily become part of the global supply chain, thereby accelerating job creation.

The US Ambassador enumerated a number of merits that US-India bilateral relations would have in the long run – some of which are as follows:

• America is a leader in entrepreneurship and innovation, and already has extensive linkages with India in the technology sector. Opening India’s market further to U.S. trade and investment will spur the collaboration on many emerging technologies that will drive and protect the two economies, including those related to advanced manufacturing and cyber security.
• Greater US trade and investment, combined with a strong environment protecting intellectual property could lead to increased flows of capital and further sharing of intellectual know-how.
• Opening India’s market further to the US trade and investment will spur collaboration on many emerging technologies that will drive and protect both economies including those related to advanced manufacturing and cyber security.
• Increased flow of capital and sharing of intellectual know-how through greater US trade and investment combined with strong environment protecting intellectual property.
• Private sector investment in improved infrastructure and overall connectivity to get stimulated through increased openness to US goods and services and expanded presence of US companies in India.
• The US shall try to enhance their efforts to promote connectivity within South Asia and are coordinating with India on financing for regional infrastructure projects to develop one of the least economically integrated regions of the world.
• Increased heft in the overall economic relationship would necessarily provide a broader and deeper, long term U.S. commitment to India and the Indo-Pacific region. This will complement the growing defense and counter-terrorism partnership and thus help in moderating any policy differences that might arise along the way.

The Ambassador felt that the defense sector provides ample opportunities for the two countries as India’s defense needs are vast and because the US as a global leader in developing advance military technology is committed to enhancing India’s security. India’s digital economy, digital services and healthcare industry and environmental technology is expected to grow many fold and the US is ready to adhere to these sectors. US Technology can also help India address its food security and agricultural concerns. He also mentioned about Travel, Tourism and Education sectors which play critical role in Indo-US trade relationship.

Another important area which the Ambassador touched upon was about the US business presence in Eastern India which he considered as an important part of the overall picture. There were close to 200 American companies operating here in various sectors with companies such as Cognizant and IBM, food processing, chemicals and petrochemicals etc. US companies were also involved in engineering, automotives, life science, banking, insurance, consumer products etc. all of which were examples of enormous potential of mutually beneficial economic relationship.

The Ambassador stated that while both India and the US cherish their independence and sovereignty, the true value of the partnership is that it can better enable each country to positively influence global affairs and achieve their aspirations for the security and prosperity of its people.