Remarks With Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the U.S.-India CEO Forum

Statement

Good afternoon, and I'm delighted to welcome all of you to the Benjamin Franklin Room here on the eighth floor of the State Department We have been looking forward to this gathering and are very excited to continue the momentum from our first Strategic Dialogue session earlier this month, which also took place right here as well.

I'd like to thank Finance Minister Mukherjee, Commerce Minister Sharma, Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia for coming to Washington again. The deputy chairman was here two weeks ago for the Dialogue. It's great to see him back so soon.

We have a number of our American counterparts who are going to be joining us very soon as well: Ambassador Ron Kirk from the U.S. Trade Representative's Office; Mike Froman and Larry Summers from the White House; Secretary Gary Locke from the Commerce Department, and Secretary Tim Geithner, who will also be joining us.

I want to thank the CEOs who have participated in this forum and have done all of the work. All we're doing is giving you lunch. But really, Dave Cote of Honeywell and Ratan Tata of the Tata Group have served as co-chairs for this forum and they have spearheaded the development of an ambitious, challenging set of recommendations that we look forward to implementing together. And I thank each and every one of you for your hard work and your dedication to the U.S.-India relationship.

As both President Obama and Prime Minister Singh have said numerous times in the last 16 months, the increased cooperation between the United States and India is the cornerstone of our 21st century strategic partnership. The President and the prime minister reinvigorated this forum last year based on the idea that Washington and Delhi need to catch up to the business and innovation cooperation that is already happening in New York and Mumbai. In the latest example of the growing links between our countries and our economies, just last week Congressman Jim McDermott unveiled a report by the India-U.S. World Affairs Institute showing that Indian investment in the U.S. grew by an estimated 60 percent in 2009, to over $7 billion. That same report indicated that trade in goods between our countries tripled between 2004 and 2008, and that since 2004 Indian acquisitions in the United States have supported approximately 40,000 jobs here in our country, with manufacturing exports to India linked to another 96,000 jobs. That's great progress and it's a solid base on which to build.

But I think that we are just getting started in exploring all of the ways to improve opportunities for trade and investment and foster the kind of inclusive growth that lifts people out of poverty and strengthens our democracies. We want to turn recommendations for improving access to education into reality. We want to lay the groundwork for future cooperation to fight climate change, develop clean energy solutions, and so much more.

It is exciting to welcome our Indian colleagues back to Washington and I'm excited, too, that President Obama will be going to India in early November. And we need to work very hard to translate a lot of the great ideas that have been discussed into accomplishments and realities for that visit.

As I was speaking, we were joined by Secretary Locke and Ambassador Ron Kirk, and I particularly want to acknowledge Deputy Jim Steinberg from here in the State Department and Under Secretary Bob Hormats as well.

It is my great pleasure now to ask Minister Mukherjee to make a few comments. We were joking as we walked out that he has long been a guiding force in Indian politics and has served in various important positions, and as finance minister has been instrumental in India's rapid economic growth. Minister Mukherjee.

Source