India-US ties: 5 key recommendations of USIBC to Joe Biden administration

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) on January 26, gave a slew of big ideas to the new Biden Administration to strengthen the India-US partnership.

This covered a number of issues ranging from reconstituting business relations with India as well as creating a new digital partnership under the headship of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Here are five key recommendations USIBC made:

Business relations  
-Among other recommendations, the USIBC looked towards ways in which India-US business relations can be strengthened. Recommendations included reimagining and reconstitute existing US-India Trade and Commercial Dialogues into a single US-India Strategic Trade Dialogue.

-The India-US commercial relationship has seen fast-paced growth over the past decade, with bilateral goods and services trade growing 12.6 per cent in 2019 to reach $146.1 billion.

-According to USIBC, business-friendly policies can unlock upwards of $150 billion in new trade over the next four years.

Healthcare and COVID-19
-The USIBC has recommended that the Biden administration create a new  US-India Global Digital Partnership. This partnership, it said, could be headed by Vice President Harris.

-The primary objective of this will be to restructure US-India Health Dialogue and to also expand the mandate and include private sector participation.

-As for the impact COVID-19 had globally, it also suggested the creation of a forum that can tackle important policy issues in a post-pandemic era.

Energy and the environment
-One of the recommendations the USIBC made to Biden's administration was to restructure the US-India Strategic Energy Dialogue to include Climate and Sustainable Growth.

-It also suggested for the creation of a US-India Scholars Endowment which would support students looking to seek education abroad.

Science and Technology-As for development in the field of science, the USIBC recommended creating a US-India Global Digital Partnership (USIGDP). This would help facilitate discussions between critical stakeholders across government and industry and would similarly be headed by Vice President Kamala Harris.

-“The Biden administration should invest in partnerships that position the US and India to lead the next generation of technology development,”  the USIBC said.

USISTD 
-In its submission, the USIBC recommended that the new USISTD be co-chaired by the US Secretary of Commerce, the US Secretary of State, and the US Trade Representative, who would invite the Government of India to name similar counterparts.

-As per USIBC, it should focus on reducing trade impediments to strengthen the strategic relationship and support a goal of $500 billion in two-way trade by 2024.