Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who begins a six-day trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles on Monday, emphasised India’s stable economic circumstances during the COVID-19 event and said the nation has emerged as the world’s trusted partner.
Piyush Goyal paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at the Gadar Memorial in San Francisco on Monday.
“What a wonderful way to start the journey, it’s the best start, got the blessings of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) as well as the Indian diaspora. In the next two days in San Francisco and Palo Alto, I will be meeting various heads of companies in the US. The relationship between the US and India has been growing, increasing the harmony between the two nations.” Goyal also elaborated on the two-day ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, he said, “There is a 2-day ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in which there will be a new economic group meeting between the ministers of all the countries around the Pacific Ocean including US, India, Japan, Indonesia & other countries.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. As I pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi in San Francisco, I take pride in India’s efforts and abilities to shape a more equitable and prosperous world,” tweeted Goyal.
Speaking at a luncheon interaction with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) where he launched six new chapters in Arizona, Austin, Los Angeles, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio, he said, “Today with the kind of structural reforms that happened in India, the island of stability that India offers, amidst the global disturbances, India is holding strong, growth is continuing to be amongst the highest in the large economies, inflation relatively being less than other parts of the world, particularly the developed countries.”
While the world is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, India has emerged as a stable economy. With game-changing economic reforms in India, Goyal urged Chartered Accountants to present the tremendous investment opportunities back home to their clients & be ambassadors of Brand India.
He also urged CAs to be ambassadors of ‘Brand India’. “Spread the message of One District One Product,” he said, adding, “Would appeal to all of you to choose ‘Made In India’ goods for gifting.”
“With a stable environment, India has become probably one of the world’s most attractive investment destinations. The trusted partner in the works and it is evident in the way world leaders and developed countries are making every effort to expand their engagement with India — looking for bilateral agreements, to expand trade with India investments into India,” said Goyal.
“For the next two days, I will be having interactive sessions with the business industry members from the San Francisco area. The focus would also be to promote and facilitate investments and expansion by key American players in India across sectors,” Goyal told the community members.
India and the United States are focused on expanding their relationship and for that, both countries are in a dialogue to come up with the next move for enhancing their bilateral ties, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
“I believe our three Ts of partnership are based on trust, technology and talent. We (India and US) have a robust trade policy forum… in many ways. We are focused on expanding this relationship. Gina (US secretary for commerce) and I are in dialogue to very quickly come up with our next commercial dialogue. Time is just ripe for all of us to engage in areas of mutual interest,” he said at US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
“I’m just sharing this to maybe tickle and excite your imagination that maybe you can start pushing the American government to have a rethink on their (Free Trade Agreement) FTA policy so that they don’t miss the bus. Because we’re very clearly focused on our international trade and engagement,” he told to the members of USISPF.
While addressing the forum, the Union Minister said that India and Canada are expected to seal an Early Progress Trade agreement by December.
“Canadian Minister (Minister of International Trade) Mary and I are very confident that we would be done with our Early Progress Trade agreement by December,” he said.
Further speaking over Israel, Goyal said: “Israel is actually right to be done, but I still don’t think we have got a good enough deal or a proposition that is attractive because of the small population size and their unwillingness to open up on services otherwise Israel could also have been done. Both of us are keen to do it, let’s see how it goes.”
The Union minister mentioned that the EU second round of discussions will happen soon. “There are 27 countries so it will take longer. But India is opening up discussions on never before subjects like gender, environment, SMEs, labour and anti-corruption laws,” he said.
