US offers India to replace China as Asian business hub
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WASHINGTON - The United States has called on India to take the adequate steps to become the new regional business hub for American enterprises that are increasingly facing difficulties in China.
US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster was quoted be media as saying in his first speech in office that India can replace China as an alternative business point, stressing that this could benefit both New Delhi and Washington.
“India can seize the strategic opportunity – through trade and investment – to become an alternative hub for US business in the Indo-Pacific region,” Juster said as reported by Russia’s Sputnik news agency.
“There are many benefits to growing our bilateral economic relationship and making India a regional hub for US business … Opening India’s market further to US trade and investment will spur our collaboration on many emerging technologies that will drive and protect our economies, including those related to advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity,” the ambassador said.
Juster said that boosting economic ties would allow the countries to increase flows of capital and to further share technologies.
"'America First' and “Make in India” are not incompatible. Rather, investing in each other’s markets will be mutually beneficial – it will increase our economic interactions and volume of trade, lead to collaboration on emerging technologies, and create jobs in both countries," he added, as quoted by Sputnik.
He noted that accelerating the economic and regulatory reform process already begun by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will help ensure that India is seen as an increasingly efficient, transparent and well-regulated market.
"This will further promote growth and development. Continued reforms and trade liberalisation will also enable Indian products to more readily become part of the global supply chain, thereby accelerating job creation," Juster was quoted in another report by India’s Economic Times of India.
Bilateral trade has increased from approximately $20 billion in 2001 to $115 billion in 2016, the report added.
