A day after United States-origin companies were knocked out of the mega tender for fighter aircraft and the U.S. Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer announced his resignation, there was an all round scramble to correct the impression that the two developments were interconnected.
From the Pentagon to the American Embassy here, officials, including the outgoing U.S. Ambassador, who had linked the success in the tender with the future of Indo-U.S. ties, denied that the loss would dent sales of U.S. defence equipment.
Mr. Roemer not only drew attention to the growth in defence sales to “see how close our two armed forces are becoming,” he also recounted the other high points of his two-year term, such as U.S. support for India's permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, reforms in U.S. export control regime and removal of key Indian defence and civil space entities from the restricted list.
On the trade and economic front, U.S. exports to India grew by 17 per cent last year, while India reduced tariffs on priority goods for U.S. Inc. such as agricultural products, aircraft and aircraft parts, clean energy machinery and medical equipment.
At the same time, Mr. Roemer conceded that Indo-U.S. ties were not perfect. Washington wanted to “tighten” the intelligence sharing capabilities, India was yet to open its markets to America's satisfaction, the limits on foreign direct investment in some crucial segments was not high enough and India was yet to improve the transparency and predictability of doing business — a familiar demand whenever companies have ended up on the losing side.
The U.S. Ambassador perceived three important global trends that will set the pace of U.S.- India ties. The first was geo-political, with the emphasis shifting to the Pacific and India poised to be the third largest economic power.
The second was demographics — will the middle class market be 50 crore strong or 30 crore — both mouth watering targets for U.S. companies. The third trend is the challenge posed by the rise of transnational actions and actors which has led to the need for cooperation in cyber security and non-proliferation efforts.
Keywords: Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal, fighter jet bid, India-US relations, Timothy Roemer resignation
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