U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker Addresses First-Ever U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue

Thank you, Minister Swaraj. I am honored to serve as a co-chair of the U.S.--India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue with you, Secretary Kerry, and Minister Sitharaman. I would also like to extend my personal thanks to Honeywell CEO Dave Cote and Tata Chairman Cyrus Mistry, the private sector co-chairs of the U.S.--India CEO Forum.

Let me begin by reiterating the goal set by the leaders of our two countries for the Commercial portion of the S&CD: to increase U.S.-India trade five-fold. We simply cannot meet the goal of increasing U.S.-India trade five-fold without the input and perspective of both our private sectors and without a laser-like focus across all levels of our two governments to address the impediments we face to doing more business together. Whether in the public or private sectors, we are all committed to advancing President Obama and Prime Minister Modi's vision of deeper ties between our peoples, our businesses, and our countries -- the world's oldest and largest democracies.

The good news is: business between the United States and India has never been better. Our two-way trade nearly tripled in the last decade reaching $104 billion. American investments in India have more than tripled since 2004 surpassing $28 billion. And, India is the fifth fastest growing source of foreign direct investment into the United States at $11 billion. This tremendous growth in bilateral commerce has created jobs for our workers, growth for our businesses, and prosperity for our communities.

And with the initial steps taken by Prime Minister Modi to strengthen India's business climate, our commercial partnership should grow in the years to come. Since his election, the Modi government has: streamlined bureaucratic decision-making processes; raised Foreign Direct Investment limits in insurance, defense, and railway infrastructure; established commercial courts that can speed up the resolution of business disputes; aggressively pursued a new intellectual property regime and solicited stakeholder input; and encouraged a competitive "race to the top," including ranking their states by ease of doing business, to attract investment. We commend the Prime Minister and his government on this progress.

However -- even with these positive steps, India is only America's 11th largest trading partner and 18th largest export market. Our commercial relationship has simply not lived up to its enormous potential. We have known this for decades. But now, given the headwinds in the global economy, neither of us can afford this under-performance any longer. We must remove the impediments that prevent our companies from building partnerships, launching joint ventures, and finding other opportunities to do more business together .We must take action to address the challenges to growth faced by our businesses and our economies. And we can only succeed by working together.

In India, Prime Minister Modi has committed his government to addressing his country's vast infrastructure, power generation, healthcare, and transportation challenges -- with initiatives like "Make in India," "Digital India," and building 100 smart cities. And American businesses stand ready with technology and capital to partner with India's public and private sectors to contribute to India's growth and development.

In the United States, President Obama has made improving market access, promoting exports, and attracting foreign investment key components of his economic agenda. For our workforce and our businesses to thrive in the 21st century, U.S. firms must be able to export their goods and services to the 96 percent of customers who live outside our borders -- including to the nearly 1.3 billion people living in India, the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Beyond new markets for our exports, American communities also need new investment, which is why our Administration established SelectUSA. This initiative, led by the Commerce Department, is our first whole-of-government effort to attract and assist foreign investors.India is a target market for SelectUSA. And in a few weeks, our first SelectUSA-India roadshow will arrive in four cities -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata -- to discuss investment opportunities in the U.S. and work with Indian businesses interested in entering our communities.

President Obama and Prime Minister Modi understand that our markets and our economic futures are interconnected, which is why they agreed to elevate our commercial relationship by creating the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. To achieve our ambitious commercial goals under this dialogue, Minister Sitharaman and I will be joined by senior representatives from economic agencies across our governments. This is critical because our companies face a number of significant issues that fall outside the authority of our respective commerce ministries. Therefore, we need to make sure that all of our key economic agencies are represented in our discussions.

To advance the aims of this dialogue, we have also heightened our engagement with the private sectors in both India and the United States. As Mr. Cote and Mr. Mistry will tell you in a few minutes, our private sectors are active partners in setting our policy agenda and dimensionalizing the potential benefits of difficult policy decisions.As always, they will hold us accountable to deliver results. Both the Indian and American governments and business communities are focused on our nations' joint priorities, including: ease of doing business; infrastructure development; innovation and entrepreneurship; and standards and global supply chains.

Our objectives are simple: to make it easier for foreign and domestic firms to do business in India and the United States; to deepen our ties of trade and commerce; and to strengthen our bilateral commercial bonds in ways that benefit workers and businesses in both our countries.

This is our inaugural Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, and I cannot help but be struck by the incredible opportunity before us. An opportunity to help Prime Minister Modi achieve his vision of a rising middle class and broadly-shared prosperity across India. An opportunity to enable President Obama to achieve his vision of greater economic security for all Americans; and an opportunity for all of us to achieve our shared vision of a strong, thriving, enduring U.S.-India relationship.

As President Obama has said, the U.S. and India are natural partners. I look forward to working with my government colleagues -- and with our business communities -- to seize this opportunity.

Thank you.

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