News
Sunday, July 17, 2011
US urges Pakistan to improve trade relations with India
* US official says India’s economic rise offers opportunity to Pakistan
WASHINGTON: India’s rise offers a huge opportunity to Pakistan, which is facing major economic challenges, a top US official said on Saturday, advocating that Islamabad should consider improving trade ties with its neighbour.
“India’s economic rise presents a huge opportunity to Pakistan. A bilateral breakthrough could provide a catalyst for wider regional economic integration in South and Central Asia,” Robert Hormats, US Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, said. Hormats said the pace of economic integration in the Asia Pacific region, as a whole, over the last two decades, had been unprecedented and should serve as an example for other regions. “It should, and I believe it can be replicated in South Asia as well. Hundreds of millions of people would benefit from such increased collaboration,” he said.
Hormats, who is member of a high-powered US delegation for next week’s India-US strategic dialogue in New Delhi, said the two countries already worked together in a wide range of areas, resulting in enhanced trade and investment and mutual job creation. “Trade between the US and India has doubled twice in the past 10 years. It continues to grow and drive their economic partnership,” he said, and added, “In 2010, the two-way trade was up almost 30 percent from the preceding year.” India’s foreign direct investment in the United States was $5.5 billion at the end of 2009, growing at approximately 35 percent between 2005 and 2009, making India the seventh largest growing source of FDI in the United States. “We welcome such investment, we welcome more and more of it, and we will also discuss this while we are in India,” Hormats said. online
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk